Bad Moon Rising
by RacheKnowsNoEnd
Summary: I am an exile among my people, a warrior without a cause, an artist without a muse. I am the son of the forgotten, the heir of time long past, a ghost still walking. I am a witness, a pawn, and a refugee; A beacon has drawn me and I am here to fight against this Bad Moon Rising. (Slash, OMC)
1. Chapter 1: An Turas

Author's Note: Originally, I had a whole different direction for this story. I posted the first chapter about a month ago, but I had an idea and ran with it. I've been writing like crazy so I can get a little bit ahead so I can post frequently! So, this is chapter one. The pronunciation of my characters name is Cian (Key-in).

Chapter One: An Turas

 _If one does not enter the tiger's cave,_

 _He will never catch its cub._

It had been a long time since I had stepped foot outside of the Inbetween and walked among the mortals. The world has changed since I last tread on its surface. I can feel it in the earth, in the breeze; I feel it in my very bones. The mortals have grown bold and inventive in my absence, I was amazed by the technology when I walked into the home of Sean O'raf in the blatant countryside outside of Dublin. I had been sent to him by my mother for aid, and he was a great help to me in my time of need. The man exchanged my gold into money, taught me how to use some of the technology, like cellphones, and how to use this new form of currency. Sean also got a friend of his to forge my documents, making me an emancipated sixteen year old named Cian Hyland from Ireland. I needed to get out of Ireland though, so Sean had contacted an old friend of his who lived in a place called California in the land they now called The United States. I had sent money ahead with the help of Aoife, Sean's wife, through something called a bank transfer and the friend Sean had out there bought me a proper dwelling and some basic furniture so it was ready when I arrived. Thankfully, I still had a decent amount of the paper money left over to live comfortably for quite a few years. I could not stay in Ireland for long, however, and so two months after my exile and my time with Sean's family, I had boarded a plane and landed in California before taking a bus to a town named Beacon Hills.

I sighed as I felt the rounded tips of my ears, an obnoxious necessity in these times. My ears perked as I heard the operator of the coach I was on announce that we were due to arrive in Beacon Hills soon. I gripped my simple black cane in one hand and pulled my messenger bag closer to my person with the other in anticipation of my arrival. Quite a few of my belongings had been shipped ahead of me and sent to the house I had bought, so I carried very little with me. I repeated the cover story Sean had given me one more time in my head: I was Cian Hyland, sixteen, from the countryside of Ireland outside Dublin, I had never really worked with technology before and I moved to Beacon Hills for a fresh start after my parents died because I had always had a fascination with America. Sean had thought himself quite brilliant when he decided to enroll me in highschool; He said being in school would allow me me to pick up necessary information and social skills to properly function in modern society. 'Besides', he had said with an infliction of humor in his voice, 'everyone is awkward in highschool, so you will fit right in!'.

As the bus came to a stop, I rose gracefully from my seat and walked down the aisle, making sure to limp as I used my cane for support. Pretending to have a limp aided me in walking at the normal, human pace while also giving me the benefit of getting to carry my cane everywhere I went, which was of some comfort to me. I exited the bus as quickly as I dare, grateful to have finally arrived at my destination, and my grey eyes immediately found the dark-skinned man without any hair holding a sign that said Cian Hyland on it. I raised a hand in greeting to the man, and he nodded at me in return. Honestly, I was most likely not very difficult to pick out of a crowd; I was one of the unfading, and one of the traits of my kind was our beauty and natural grace.

"You must be the one they call Deaton." I said, the corners of my lips tipping up briefly.

"I am." Deaton replied readily, a warm smile directed at me. "I'm glad you've decided to come to Beacon Hills."

"Oh?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in question "Why is that?"

"It is always an honor to meet one of the Sidhe." Deaton said as he turned to lead the way to an automobile parked in a lot nearby. "I have only ever met one prior to you."

"It is good to meet you as well. I appreciate all that you have done in anticipation of my arrival." I said calmly, climbing into the vehicle as I reached the passenger door. "I have heard from Sean that this town has been quite eventful as of late. Would you mind explaining what has happened here? Sean did not know much of anything, just that you had some excitement."

"We recently had a problem with an out of control Alpha." Deaton confided, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye as we drove away from the bus station.

"Werewolves." I muttered, rolling my eyes. I have ran into a few over my lifetime; they were highly emotional creatures, prone to impulsive behavior, sometimes quite volatile, and tended to group together into 'packs'. "What of his pack?"

Deaton explained to me then about Scott, the unwilling teenager caught in the plans of a vengeful wolf, the hunters who had come into town, and the new Alpha, Derek, who had taken the power from the previous Alpha after killing him. It was an interesting tale to hear, but I was glad that I was coming after it was over.

"I am glad that things have settled." I commented, watching the buildings outside of the window as we passed them.

"Cian." Deaton said, causing me to look and meet his brown eyes. The tone of voice he used was not something I enjoyed hearing, it resounded with anxiety and usually meant trouble. "Things aren't settling."

"Would you care to elaborate?" I asked, once again turning to face the window of the car and looking out.

"I'm afraid lines are being drawn. It is merely the calm before the storm." Deaton said tiredly, his grip on the steering wheel tightening briefly.

"It would not be my first war." I responded quietly

 _There was fire in the air and the smoke was thick. Cries of war were resounding, the clanging of swords in the distance and blood prevalent. I rode my horse hard, keeping a firm grip on the reigns to ensure he would not be frightened by the scents he would undoubtedly smell. I could see the main encampment not far ahead, and I sighed in relief at seeing it untouched by our enemies. As I entered the camp, I nimbly jumped from my horse upon reaching the command tent, my armor silent as I walked to the entrance. The two guards on either side of the orange tent bowed to me as I walked past them, moving the flap, and entering without any hesitation - I was expected. My eyes adjusted quickly and I saw the war council in session, men of varying ages surrounding an oval table. They were all the Generals and Strategists that helped to lead the army to victory, and on the table in front of them was a map of the current objective, Nanjing. At the head of the table sat the my goal, and the room quieted as I approached the man sitting there. I bowed low when I reached his side, and then kneeled before him._

" _We were successful, lord." I said in Chinese loudly so that all those within the tent could hear my voice clearly._

" _As always, Ru Xiang." The man replied, his dark eyes glittering with satisfaction. The Chinese man bowed his head in a sign of respect before lifting his hand and commanding everyone present to leave the tent. No words were exchanged as the men left and I stayed on one knee before the man. After the last general had left the tent, the man stood up from his chair._

" _Many doubted my decision to allow you to serve me." the young lord said, putting his hand on my face to lift my eyes to meet his own, dark brown meeting steel grey. "Many have come to regret these doubts. Stand and be at ease, my friend."_

" _Dorgon." I said, allowing a smile to come across my face, directed at the man adorned in black and gold armor that glittered in the light from the candles._

 _We met one another halfway, our mouths locking together with a haste and desperation only dangerous times could breed. It was a fierce battle of tongues and only the need to breathe broke us apart. Dorgon cupped my cheek, his hand running the smooth length of my jaw, brushing a lock of long, golden hair behind one of my ears._

" _You are as beautiful as the day that I met you." Dorgon whispered to me gently._

" _You are kind." I replied, looking into his eyes and smiling at him in return. "You are just as brave and handsome as that day as well."_

" _My lord!" a guard's voice called loudly from outside of the tent. I sighed in frustration at the abrupt end to our rare private moment. "A messenger approaches!"_

 _We separated quickly and I turned to face the entrance of the tent, wiping all expression from my face and schooling it into a blank mask. A young, Chinese boy entered, and my heart clenched at seeing blood on such a youthful face, his eyes were wide and terrified. The messenger approached Dorgon and knelt, waiting first for his lord to speak._

" _What message do you have, boy?" Dorgon asked_

" _Reinforcements, my lord. Calvary from the west approach our fort on the river." The messenger stammered as he spoke out of fear._

" _How many?" Dorgon's voice was clipped, a trait he took on when he was worried._

" _Over a thousand, my lord." The messenger said, glancing at both Dorgon and I before hurriedly dropping his gaze back to the floor._

 _Dorgon dismissed the messenger before turning to look at me. I nodded at the wordless request and grabbed a helmet from one of the various racks lining the tent wall. I walked back to Dorgon, putting a hand to his face, before bowing and turning to leave the tent._

" _Be careful."_

 _I froze for a moment, the meaning in his words filling me with a warmth briefly. I shifted my hand to grip my sword, nodding quickly without turning around, and then steeled my resolve, marching out of the tent._

"Cian, I will admit to being worried." Deaton said, jerking me back to reality. "I'm glad you came, regardless of the circumstances, and I hope that you will help if things become chaotic."

"My options were limited, Deaton. I will do as I see fit, I can promise no more." I said, a finality in my tone suggesting that the conversation was over. We were both silent for the remainder of the car ride, Deaton only breaking the silence when he told me he needed to stop by his place of work in order prior to taking me to the house with my belongings in it. I could not call that place home yet, my home was in Ireland.

We got out of the vehicle and I threw my messenger bag across my chest, over one shoulder. I gripped my cane and we walked together towards the door of the veterinary hospital. As we approached the door, I grasped Deaton's arm.

"We are not alone." I warned quietly before releasing his arm after he nodded minutely in understanding. We stepped through the door and I followed Deaton into the back room slowly, my guard up. There was a body with slashes on his torso, and I could tell by the color of his skin that he had died within the last day. There was a man with light dirty blonde hair and piercing blue eyes standing beside the table who turned to face us as we entered the room. We eyed the man with trepidation, and he was the first one to break the silence and speak.

"I was wondering if you could give me your medical opinion on what killed this man."

"I don't know if you saw the sign out there." Deaton said, walking forward slowly. "But this is just an animal clinic."

"I'm aware of that." the man said, his eyebrows raising. "I'm also aware that you're not just a vet."

"I see." Deaton replied calmly, looking at the body. "I'll need the time."

"I'll be back after an hour." the man said, looking at us both. "And I won't be coming alone."

I observed the man as he strode through the door with an air of confidence, and turned to Deaton with my eyebrow raised in a silent question.

"A hunter." Deaton said shortly, turning on his overhead light in order to see the body more clearly. "Chris Argent."

"Interesting." I said, setting my bag on the floor and removing my jacket. "We had better get started."

We both put gloves on and examined the body. The claw marks were deep, it looks as though the man had been lifted up and the slashes went from his lower stomach to the top of his chest. Deaton examined the man's head and noted a peculiar horizontal cut on his neck.

"That looks surgical." I murmured, tilting the head to see the cut more clearly in better lighting. "Calculated."

"I agree." Deaton said "Most likely to incapacitate the victim."

"Poison?" I said, slightly surprised

"I think venom is a more accurate term." Deaton replied

I hummed in agreement before looking at the man's hands and arms. No defensive wounds were present, which would support Deaton's theory that it was a paralytic agent that incapacitated the victim. A noise from the back of the building caught my attention and when I told Deaton, he looked confused, so he was not expecting anyone.

"It hasn't been an hour." Deaton said thoughtfully "Are they early?"

"I did not hear any vehicles." I told him, quietly grabbing my cane from where it was propped up against the table. I tensed as I heard the back door of the clinic creak open and a moment later, a teenager with dark brown hair and eyes walked through the door holding a hand to his side as though he was injured. I watched as Deaton relaxed, so I did the same and stepped back from the table as Deaton rushed forward towards the boy with a concerned look on his face. The boy was a wolf, I could smell it on him as they lifted his shirt and the blood from the gashes on his chest weeped slowly, struggling to heal.

"Deaton" the boy, who I guessed was Scott, groaned painfully before glancing at me as if he was just now noticing my presence. "Who is that?"

"His name is Cian, Scott." Deaton said, grabbing a bottle with a clear liquid inside and bandages from a drawer. "We have to hurry, the hunters will be back soon. They'll heal normally, it will just take longer because they are from an Alpha." Deaton quickly applied what he called rubbing alcohol to the cuts and Scott sucked in a breath.

"Okay, how do you know this?" Scott asked with a confused look "How do you know anything?"

"That's a longer story." Deaton responded, hurryingly bandaging Scott as he spoke. "What I can tell you, is that I know about your kind. Your kind, I can help. This" Deaton gestured towards the body on the examination table "is something different."

"Well" Scott said sounding slightly panicked "Do you know what did it?"

"No." I said, speaking up for the first time and taking a step towards them. "I'd be willing to bet the Argents will though."

Scott and I both jerked as we heard a car engine pull into the parking lot and the slam of a few car doors being shut. Scott went to hide behind a door in a side room just as the Argents started to walk into the building.

"I'm beginning to think I need a more prominent closed sign." Deaton said coolly as they came through the doors. Chris Argent scoffed as he walked to the side, revealing an older gentleman behind him. The old man called Deaton by his first name, I was interested to hear, and wondered how they knew one another.

Deaton explained our findings to the man, and he looked on in interest, asking questions throughout the explanation. I had not missed the curious glances I had been given throughout the entire exchange, but no one asked about my presence there and I was not going to be volunteering anything either. The old man had a far too calculating gaze on his face as he eyed me, however, so I kept it in the back of my mind to analyze at a later time. The group left after Deaton warned them that the purpose of this creature could very well be only to kill.

"Scott." Deaton called, and Scott came around the corner. "You need to find the records they keep."

"But what about how you know about us?" Scott asked loudly "and what about him?"

"He is an aquaintance of mine." Deaton explained, meeting my gaze as he spoke. "He will be joining you at school. He just recently got here from Ireland."

"Are you like him?" Scott asked, gesturing towards Deaton.

"Not quite." I answered, snorting derisively.

"Cian is here to help." Deaton said, avoiding the outraged glare I shot him at his assumption. I had told him I would do what I felt was right, I did not commit to anything.

"How?" Scott asked, eyeing my cane with disbelief and skepticism in his eyes.

"I have not agreed to anything yet." I told told him, striding forward after I picked my bag up. "I am ready to leave, Deaton."

I walked out to the car, using my cane, as Deaton locked up the building and said goodbye to Scott. He did not take long to follow me out to the car, and I got in without a word. The car ride was tense and silent. When we pulled up to what I assumed was the house I now owned, I reached my hand out and grabbed the keys Deaton was holding towards me without a word. It may have been immature, but I was not going to say a word to the man until he apologized for his presumption. I shut the car door and walked up the cement paved pathway to the front door of the simple, green, two story house with the white door.

The inside of the house was filled with boxes. As soon as you walked in, there was a hallway that branched off into the living room on the right, a door that led to a half bathroom on the left wall, with stairs leading to the upstairs a little further on the left wall. If you walked straight ahead there was the kitchen. The kitchen was simple, it had an island in the middle, a fridge, a stove, a microwave, and on the left there was a room that had a washer and dryer. On the right was the dining room, which led back into the living room. All of the walls were painted a beige color, and after examining the downstairs, I went to check out the upstairs. There was a full bathroom with a nice sized shower, and two bedrooms. In the bigger bedroom my queen sized bed had already been set up, so I quickly shucked my grey jeans off and let out a groan as I fell on the mattress. I could not believe I had been in the town for two hours and already met hunters and a werewolf; what had I gotten myself into, coming here? I should have gone back to China.

* * *

High school was strange, I decided as I watched the students, screaming and laughing, streaming into the double doors like ants. We had a learning building back in the Inbetween, but it was much smaller and so there was not as much chaos or noise. I had forgotten that mortals bred like rabbits, and that in the bigger cities there were even more of them. Sighing, I gripped my cane a little tighter and made my way into the school to find the office, where I was supposed to receive my schedule. Another thing I had forgotten about mortals was how much they enjoyed talking amongst one another. Among my own people, my looks were average, but among the mortals I stuck out in a significant way and it was apparently all these hormonal teenagers could talk about. Well, that and the reasons behind why I needed a cane in order to walk. Some of the stories and scenarios they came up with were ridiculous, some of them making me scowl and others causing me to repress a smile at how ludicrous they were. I had on a simple white shirt, black jeans, a grey jacket, simple black boots, and my ever present messenger bag. I looked around and thankfully I decided that I honestly did not stick out that much.

"Scott, is that him?" I heard from somewhere in the crowded hall, the name of the boy from last night piquing my interest, and I tilted my head minutely to listen more closely.

"Yeah, that's him." I heard Scott confirm in a low voice, and my eyes searched the hall for the mop of dark brown hair.

"Woah. He is weirdly pretty." the other voice said, and I finally found where Scott was sitting on steps next to another boy. He was attractive in his own right; he was bouncing one of his legs up and down, he had his head shaved, a nose that was pleasantly upturned, and an attractive spattering of moles. He was wearing jeans, a shirt, and some kind of flannel.

"Dude, Stiles." Scott said, looking at his friend strangely for calling me pretty.

"What?" his friend asked defensively. "He is! For a guy, I mean. Like, no guy is that pretty; it could be a front for him actually being evil underneath. His attractive appearance lures his victims in before he kills them!" The boy, Stiles, said with a spastic gesture. They both ducked their heads suddenly as they noticed me watching them, so I decided to make my way over to them. "Scott, I think he is coming over here. Yep, he is definitely coming over."

"Have you formulated a plan yet?" I asked Scott, getting right to the point, looking into the brown eyes that looked more like they should belong on a puppy than a werewolf.

"Wow, no introduction? No good morning?" Stiles snarked, narrowing his eyes at me. "No explanation for what went on last night?"

"Good morning." I told him slowly "I was not aware I owed anyone an explanation. I also assumed your friend had filled you in, so I am sure an introduction is quite unnecessary."

"Stiles." Scott said, elbowing his friend lightly in the side to get him to not respond. "Deaton and Cian said the Argents would have a record of creatures and stuff they have come across."

"Like a bestiary?" Stiles asked smartly, and I gave him an slightly impressed look.

Scott snorted with laughter, his brown eyes crinkling at the corners with mirth. "I think you mean bestiality, man."

"Interesting." I said, looking at Scott as and wondering if he was touched or not, before turning to look at his more well-informed friend. "Exactly like a bestiary."

"It is a compendium of mythical and supernatural creatures." Stiles explained to his friend as he took in Scotts confused expression. I eyed Stiles again, wondering where he had gotten his knowledge from when his friend, who was a supernatural creature, did not know it himself; I fought down a smirk as I noticed Stiles' ears go red when he noticed me give him a once over.

"How am I the only one who has no idea about this stuff?" Scott groaned, putting his head into his hands for a moment.

"Well, you, my best friend, are a creature of the night - so it's kind of a top priority for me." Stiles said, and I let out a quiet snort at the creature of the night comment, causing Stiles to grin at me.

"We need to get that book." They both said, looking at eachother strangely when they said it at exactly the same time. They both then turned to look at me expectantly, as though I was supposed to volunteer to help them steal the book from the hunters.

"I have to go meet the Principal." I told them, abruptly turning and walking away, fake limping, from the two of them in order to find the part of the school labeled the office.

"So much for him being here to help." I heard Stiles mutter to Scott under his breath, and I froze for a moment in the middle of the hallway, considering if it was worth saying anything or not. Ultimately, I decided it was not worth the time, so I kept walking while keeping an eye out for the office.

"I think he heard you." Scott said right before I turned a corner and saw an enclosed area with windows from the ground to the ceiling and a sign that said office outside. I opened the door and stepped in, stopping in front of the desk where a severe looking woman with dark, red hair and high cheekbones sat. She had a fake smile that did not reach her eyes and exuded a coldness that I did not trust instantaneously.

"May I help you?" She asked politely in a clipped voice

"I am here to see the principal in order to receive my schedule." I told her

"One moment." She responded, grabbing a phone and hitting a button before telling someone on the other line that I was outside waiting to see him. As soon as she hung up the phone, she looked up at me. "He can see you now. Just head on back."

I made my way into the back, where there was another oak door I had to open and what was on the other side surprised me. I carefully made sure it did not show on my face, and eyed the old man from last night sitting behind the desk with interest. These Argents were everywhere. If the old man was surprised to see me, he hid it well.

"Mr. Hyland, I presume? I'm Gerard, but here you can call me Principal Argent" Argent asked, scanning my body and his eyes resting briefly on my cane before returning to my face. He was putting on an act as though he were a kindly old man, and I did not buy it for a second.

"You are correct." I said, gracefully taking a seat in front of him without asking for permission to. "I am here to collect my schedule."

"Ah, yes. You are starting as a Sophomore, aren't you? Judging by that accent, you are from Ireland?" He asked, already knowing the answer to both of his questions. I hated when people phrased statements as questions, it was irritating and pointless.

"Correct on both counts." I replied, leaning my cane carefully against the chair I was in.

"Now, if you don't mind me asking, how does a sixteen year old from Ireland know our town vet?" Gerard asked, eyes glittering with curiosity

"He is a family friend." I said, my eyes unflinching.

"Ah. What are your parents names?" Gerard asked again

"In my family, we do not speak the names of those who have passed on." I told him calmly "Now may I please obtain my schedule to avoid being late to class on my first day?"

"Of course." Gerard said, standing up as I did. "My daughter-in-law will hand it to you on your way out with a map of the school. Oh, and Mr. Hyland?"

"Yes?" I asked, my hand on the door handle

"I'll be keeping a close eye on you, to make sure you are adjusting here well." Gerard said, smiling. The underlying threat of his statement did not go unnoticed by me, and neither did the dangerous gleam in his eye as he dropped his charade for a moment.

"I would not have it any other way, Principal Argent." I replied, walking out before he could say anything else. Mrs. Argent gave me a folder as I passed her desk with my schedule, a list of books, and the map of the school Gerard had mentioned.

As soon as I was out in the hallway, I grit my teeth together at the threat the old man had left unspoken. If there was one thing that I hated, it was being threatened or told what to do. I made my way to History, the halls were emptied which I assumed meant class had already started, and I used the map as a reference in order to find my way to the class. I took a calming breath when I was outside of the classroom before I walked in, my blood still boiling from my interaction with the Argents. The teacher stopped speaking when he noticed me come into his class, and he quickly gave me a book before pointing me towards an empty seat in the back of the classroom. I locked eyes with Stiles, who was in the desk beside the seat, and I purposefully walked over and took my seat, unpacking a writing utensil and a notebook, opening my book to the page listed on the board. I noticed Stiles watching me out of the corner of my eye and, thinking of Gerard, I quickly scribbled a note in my perfect calligraphy before smiling, which came out as more of a grimace, and placing the note on his desk. Curiously, he unfolded the piece of paper and I watched as he read it.

I will assist any way that I can. Inform me when you and Scott have a plan.

\- Cian

Stiles' eyes widened a fraction and he looked over at me, nodding his head with a quick grin and putting his two thumbs up while curling all of his other fingers into a fist. Curious. I turned back to face the board and began to copy what was on the board, thinking to myself that these two idiots had better not get me killed with this plan of theirs.

After class was over, Stiles hurriedly put his stuff into his backpack before he threw an arm around my shoulder and guided me out of the door. My glare did not deter him for a second, although he did remove his arm fairly quickly after he noticed it. Stiles explained that Allison, another Argent, was going to get the keys to Gerards office and then Stiles would search the office during tonight's lacrosse game, both of which Stiles and Scott were team members of.

"So what is my task tonight?" I asked, giving him a blank stare.

"We, that is me, well Scott and I, thought you could keep an eye on Gerard." Stiles said, tapping his fingers on the straps of his bag. I was fairly short for a guy, so I had to look up slightly while he was talking in order to maintain eye contact with him; his eyes were a warm, honey brown. I noticed that he had a hard time staying still in the short time I had observed him.

"Won't Allison be doing that already?" I asked, confused "Would it not be more efficient for me to aid you in searching the office?"

Stiles hesitated before answering, an almost guilty look flashing across his face, before quickly turning into a determined one. "In case Allison has to leave, we need eyes on Gerard."

"I still believe.. " I trailed off as it hit me. They did not trust me, that is why they were giving me that job; they wanted as much help as they could get, they could not afford to turn my offer down, but they wanted me out of the way as much as possible. I pushed the indignation I felt down, realizing it would not help anything and told myself that it was something that I would do as well if there was an unknown factor in a strategy. "Alright. I will be present."

Stiles seemed shocked at the lack of argument, but obviously was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I turned to leave before he had an opportunity to say anything else. On my way to my next class, I saw a dark haired girl with fair skin staring at me from down the hallway. As soon as my eyes met hers, she gave me an awkward smile which was followed by a conflicted look. Internally, I groaned as I saw her begin to walk towards me.

"Hi, I'm Allison. You're Cian, right?" Allison introduced herself, smiling sweetly and seeming genuinely friendly.

"What gave it away? The cane?" I asked snarkily

"No! I didn't even notice - Well, I did notice but that's not why.. What I mean is.." Allison fumbled for words, a shocked look on her face before she tilted her chin and pushed on, not noticing my lips quirking at the corners at the girl's distraught state. "Scott mentioned you."

"What did he say?" I asked curiously

"That you were blonde and had a cane. Then Stiles said you were good-looking." Allison admitted, a small smirk on her face, most likely from the memory of teasing Stiles.

"How flattering." I dead-panned, pulling my map out to see where the art room was.

"What class do you have?" Allison said, falling into step beside me as I began walking down the hall.

"I have Art."

"Me too!" Allison chirped happily, nudging me with her shoulder. "Want some company on the way?"

"It is a free world." I murmured, and my nose scrunched as I caught a whiff of what smelled like werewolf briefly. I turned and saw blonde hair before the bathroom door closed, and I wondered how many teenagers were blood werewolves at this school?

"I remember my first day." Allison was saying, chattering as we walked and distracting me from my thoughts. "Small towns can be worse because everyone knows everyone already and you are the new kid. I don't know what I would have done without Scott, Lydia, and Stiles. They were all really awesome."

"I am quite sure Scott was exceptionally hospitable." I said with a smirk, having already smelt him all over her.

"I think you're going to fit in just fine." Allison said dryly, a small blush staining her porcelain cheeks. Soon after we reached the art room, and I gratefully breathed in the familiar aroma of oil and canvas.

Nothing interesting in Art happened aside from Allison introducing me to Lydia and Danny, two of her friends. Lydia had a calculating look on her face as she looked me up and down, before nodding her head as though I passed inspection, before holding out her hand and introducing herself. Danny was much more warm, he told me he played lacrosse and if I needed help getting around to not be afraid to ask him for help; I also notice that throughout the lesson he would not quit staring at me. It was distracting while I was trying to work on the assignment the teacher had told me they were working on. I had deduced he preferred the company of men romantically and it was confirmed when he asked Allison if I was single, who glanced over at me awkwardly as though she knew or at least suspected that I could hear them, before saying that she didn't know. I ignored them both in favor of the assignment, which was to create a piece about or of a moment that impacted you in a powerful way. I was pondering whether to lighten the shade of orange I was using before committing to it when the bell rang. Allison had to leave without me, as I still had to pack up my things. It was apparently normal to pack up and clean five minutes prior to the bell ringing, something I kept in mind for next class, but the teacher wrote me a note to excuse my tardiness for my next class.

The rest of the day was terribly uneventful, and at the end I saw Scott and Stiles standing in the hallway talking to each other beside a grouping of lockers. When Stiles noticed me watching them, he gestured a little spastically for me to come over to join them. I told them that I had to go home before the game tonight, and that I would meet them here by the field later that night. They quickly told me where exactly to meet them before I turned and headed out the doors to walk back to my house. I needed to unpack some of the boxes today before the game got started, and it was boring work setting up a space.

* * *

These people take lacrosse way too seriously, I decided, as I watched a huge man that I heard some of the players deemed 'The Abomination' cause another player to get evaluated by a medical professional. I carefully watched as Allison extracted the keys from her grandfather's jacket, with him being none the wiser, and held them to the side of her where Stiles smoothly grabbed them. I shifted on my feet, gripping the box of food Stiles had shoved into my hands, and leaned on my cane. Stiles had called the food popcorn and it would make me appear less conspicuous by eating it. I rolled my eyes at the boy and had considered telling him that I had achieved plenty of tasks through espionage, that I could blend in a crowd when I wanted too, but the salty and buttery treat had turned out to be extremely good, so I held my tongue. I ignored the smug smirk he directed my way when he saw me take a handful and put it in my mouth, munching happily as I switched between watching the game and Gerard.

Another wolf had just joined the game, evident when his eyes glowed yellow briefly after taking down 'The Abomination' and dropping him as though he were a sack of potatoes. The blonde that the dark skinned teenager had been sitting with got up, which caught my interest, and I assumed that was the wolf I had smelled earlier on in the day on the way to Art. She went into the same direction Stiles had just went, checking her phone as she walked through the crowd, and I quickly threw the popcorn away before I followed her. Right before they were out of my site, I threw a cautious look back at the Argents, making sure Allison and Gerard were still sitting next to one another, before I pushed my way through the crowd and towards the school. I had lost sight of the she-wolf after she broke free of the crowd while I had still been struggling to push my way past people. I cursed in frustration when I got to the edge and could not see her, but I knew where she was going so I did not worry too hard about it. I tried to remember how to get to the office from where I was, but it took a few minutes until I finally figured it out, using the gym as a reference point. I moved as fast as I dared with mortals around to try and head her off before she could be with Stiles for too long.

I had just entered the school and was almost to the office when I heard Stiles talking loudly about his ear being ripped off. I smirked a little before following the sound of his voice, but it had faded quickly. I wandered the halls for a moment until I heard a loud growl that sounded like a werewolf. I abandoned all pretense of my limp and booked it towards the noise, moving faster than any human could hope too, until I came across doors that had a sign reading Pool outside of them. Just as I reached the doors, I heard a splash of water; I composed myself, taking a deep breath and gripped my cane for appearances. I opened the door and strode into the room, coming face to face with a giant, reptile that had been pacing the length of the pool before turning to face me and standing upright.

My eyes scanned the room, noting Stiles holding up a dark haired man inside of the pool, treading water in the center. I took in the creatures green scales, yellow eyes, and the tail waving behind it.

"Dude, run!" Stiles sputtered when he saw me, trying not to drink any of the water as he spoke. "It will paralyze you! We don't think it can swim, just jump in!"

I ignored him and the 'thing' as Stiles had called it was watching me intently. I slowly removed my messenger back from my shoulder, lowering it gently down to the ground, maintaining eye contact with the lizard the entire time. The creature cautiously began to make its way towards me as soon as the bag hit the ground.

"What are you doing?" Stiles shouted, struggling to keep himself and his companion above water.

I calmly twisted my cane a little ways from the top, and pulled, revealing the sword concealed within. The top of my cane served as a handle, and I gave it an experimental swing before putting it out in front of myself defensively as the creature came closer. As soon as the sword stilled, the reptile began to rush me; as soon as it got close enough, it pounced and attacked coming straight towards my middle.

I ran to meet it halfway and as soon as it had pounced, I slid on my knees so that I would go underneath it, cutting with my sword along the length of its lighter underbelly, and only narrowly avoiding getting hit by its tail. The creature let out a screech as it felt the bite of my blade, and I hummed in satisfaction as I turned to face it, rising to my feet. I frowned as I saw the rather deep cut I had just made heal up impossibly fast until it looked as though it had never been hurt at all. This was not going to be easy.

The reptile let out a cry as it rushed me once again, and I used the sword to deflect the claws. The thing was fast, and I had a death grip on my sword to prevent the creature from ripping it from my grasp, as it was equally strong. The creature seemed to halt for a moment, and I seamlessly switched from defense to offense; I brought the sword into strikes, cutting an x that it blocked before aiming for the creatures feet. The tail whipped out and almost knocked the sword from my hands, so I made four more diagonal cuts in order to get the reptile to back up so I could maneuver more easily. On the last cut I made, the creature grabbed the sword with one of its hands; the two of us stared at one another for a moment before I lifted my foot and kicked off its chest, using my other foot to kick its head in, doing a flip and landing on my feet. I turned and ran as it threw my sword, which it still had in its grasp, to the side of the pool.

"It's right behind you!" Stiles yelled unhelpfully as we made brief eye contact, whiskey eyes thick with worry meeting stormy grey.

I ran to a corner of the room, pushing on one wall of the corner, pushing off the other one to use the momentum and turn, bashing the creature across the face with my elbow as hard as I could, aiming for the things eyes. Its head snapped to the side form the impact, but it recovered quickly and grabbed me by the throat. I felt the cut on my neck before it threw me hard against the wall, knocking the breath out of me. I closed my eyes as my vision wavered as the air forcefully left my body, leaving me gasping, and in the background I heard a yell. I opened my eyes, ignoring the pain that shot through me from the harsh fluorescent lights, and saw Stiles swimming towards the edge of the pool towards a phone, the reptile stalking towards where he was trying to get too.

"Hey!" I shouted, causing the lizard to stop and look at me along with Stiles. Stiles quickly got back to swimming when he saw me standing, and reached his phone. "I am not done yet."

I took off at a run, releasing the glamour on my body to reveal my pointed ears and my body softly glowing from my immortality. I sprinted full force at the monster, becoming a blur, and I drop kicked the creature with everything that I had. I knocked it off of its feet, but by the time I had stood up, it had as well. I rolled to my left to avoid its tail coming towards me, and distantly I heard Stiles say in a disbelieving tone that someone had hung up on him. Hearing that cause me to lose my concentration for a second, and the creature's claws ripped into my leg, and my scream reverberated around the room. It quickly brought its other claw up, which I blocked, and when I tried to punch it, the reptile once again sliced into me, this time cutting up along my ribs. I groaned this time, and I turned and ran towards the pool before diving in. That was when the world slowed down. I could feel the venom slowing my healing, and the water around me was beginning to look like wine from the blood leaking from my wounds. I floated for a moment underwater before I broke the surface and began kicking, trying to keep my head above the water. I could hear someone talking, but could not make out what they were saying because of how disoriented I was from the toxin, the blood loss, and the hit I had received to my head. It felt as though my body was on autopilot; kicking and fighting to stay above the surface and remain conscious.

A long time seemed to pass, it could have been minutes or hours, before I felt an arm wrap around my waist and began to tug me towards the edge of the pool. Someone lifted me onto the cold, cement floor and I shivered a little as the water dripped off of me, my clothes sticking uncomfortably to my body from where the blood and pool water were.

"Scott!" I vaguely heard Stiles shout in a panicked voice, and I heard footsteps come running over to where we were. "He's hurt. What do we do?"

"I don't know!" Scott exclaimed "Should we take him to the hospital?"

"And tell them what, exactly? A giant lizard monster just attacked our friend, help?" Stiles snapped sarcastically

"Dude! So not the time." Scott said in return, and I could hear him pacing back and forth. "We should call Deaton."

With a groan, I slowly started to sit up. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned, my greys eyes looking into concerned, honey colored eyes. "You shouldn't sit up."

"I'm fine." I said gruffly, sitting up more fully and blinking back the dark spots that threatened to overtake my vision.

"You are not fine." Stiles snapped without any real bite, his voice coming out with an odd sense of relief and worry. "You were just eviscerated by a giant lizard."

"I will heal." I said absently, using my hand to push off of the ground in order to stand. I almost fell, but I felt Stiles put an hand under my armpit, keeping me steady. I was looking around the pool for my sword when I felt something being pressed into my open hand. I turned, only to be confronted with Scott's smiling face. I gratefully took the cane, leaning on it and taking some of the weight off of my foot and onto it instead. "Thank you."

"We have to get out of here." Scott said, looking around at the destruction our fight with the reptile had caused. I nodded in agreement and shrugged Stiles off me, staggering a few steps. I almost fell until I felt a hand slide around my waist and my arm go around someone's shoulder, and turned to see Stiles glaring at me, daring me to try to shake him off again.

"Thanks." I said tiredly, and the three of us slowly left the pool. As we walked towards the parking lot, I suddenly remembered what this had all been about to begin with. "Did you find the book?"

"Yeah!" Scott said triumphantly, holding out a small, black stick for me to observe.

"What is that?" I asked, a blank look on my face. Both of the teenagers looked at me incredulously.

"A USB." Stiles said, as though he were talking to a five year old. I scowled and felt heat rise up to my cheeks, making me scowl even more. I had no idea what he was talking about and I felt stupid for not knowing. Stiles must have seen my embarrassment because he explained what it was quickly, giving me a gist of what they were and how they were used.

We exited the doors and I limped, for once not having to fake it, over to Scott's car. Scott got a laptop out of the back, and they plugged the USB in. There were pages and pages, some of them having pictures to accompany the words, but all of it was written in Latin.

"Is that even a language?" Stiles complained as we looked through the pages.

"It's latin." I said quietly, pressing my hand to my side to keep it from bleeding too heavily. My shirt was stained, I should probably get out of public before anyone saw how gruesome I most likely looked.

"How are we supposed to know what this thing is?" Scott asked rhetorically

"It's called a Kanima." a deep voice said from behind us, and I turned my head to see the dark haired guy from the pool walking towards us. I took a moment to appreciate how in shape he was, my eyes doing a slow once over of the wet clothes sticking to his body, before I focused on what he had just said.

"That is a Kanima?" I asked, disbelieving. They were so rare that most believed they were only a myth.

"You knew the whole time." Scott accused, glaring at the older man. Stiles studied me curiously after my outburst.

"No." Derek replied, seemingly honest "Only when it was confused by it's own reflection."

"It doesn't know what it is." Scott said

"Or who." Derek said, glancing at me for the first time before doing a double take.

"What else do you know?" Stiles asked Derek, zeroing in on him.

"Just stories, rumors." Derek said, looking at me still and then nodding towards me "Probably nothing he hasn't already heard before."

"What do you mean?" Stiles asked, frowning as he looked between the two of us distrustfully.

"He's a sidhe." Derek said, as though it explained everything. I honestly doubted that these two even knew what they were.

"Is the Kanima like us?" Scott asked, redirecting the conversation.

"A shapeshifter - yes." Derek replied, looking disturbed "but it's - it's not right. It's.."

"An abomination." Stiles finished thoughtfully.

"Derek, we have to work together on this." Scott said, pleading with his eyes "Maybe even tell the Argents."

"You trust them?" Derek asked angrily, nostrils flaring in outrage

"Nobody trusts anyone! That's the problem! While we're here, arguing about who's on what side, there's something scarier, faster, and stronger than all of us, and it's killing people and we still don't even know anything about it!" Scott exclaimed, just as angry

"I know one thing." Derek said, staring Scott down. "When I find it? I'm going to kill it."

Derek walked away right after that, leaving Scott simmering in anger behind with Stiles and myself. I turned and started to walk away, limping with my bag clutched tightly to my side. I just needed to get home and sleep, hopefully I would be healed in the morning. I was only a couple of miles away.

"Hey! Where are you going?" I heard Stiles yell as I got a couple feet away. I turned around with a confused expression on my face before I answered.

"Home?"

"I'm driving you. And don't argue with me, because otherwise I will follow you all the way in my Jeep and bug you the entire time. I have been told that I can be extremely annoying, so don't think I won't." Stiles said determinedly

"Stiles, I have to go pick up my mom." Scott said, glancing at his cell phone to check the time.

"Yeah, go ahead. I'm fine. I'll drop him off and go straight home, skype when you make it back, kay?" Stiles said to his friend, doing some kind of weird handshake before waving him off. I was still standing a few feet away, not having moved, when Stiles turned to face me as Scott drove off. He gestured to his Jeep. "Get in."

I hesitated for a moment, not seeing a problem with it. My muscles were aching and the prospect of not having to walk all the way home was looking better every second I tried to keep standing. I hobbled over to the passenger door of the Jeep, climbing up into the seat, and buckling in. Stiles started the engine and I told him my address. He let me know he knew where it was, and so I kept quiet deciding no directions were needed. I closed my eyes partially, but I could feel Stiles eyes burning a hole into the side of my head every few seconds. I knew he must be dying of curiosity, he seemed like the type, and since he offered to give me a ride home I figured I could put up with a few questions.

"Go ahead." I said, opening my eyes and looking at him.

"Go ahea-? With what?" Stiles asked, I could hear his heartbeat increasing slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Obviously, you are dying to know something." I explained, raising an eyebrow "Unless you just enjoy looking at my face that much."

"Obviously." Stiles muttered, a flush creeping up his neck. "What are you? Derek said a sidhe? What is that?"

"I am Sidhe." I confirmed, nodding before the action caused me to be dizzy so I abruptly stopped. "We are the unfading. Immortal."

"Immortal?" Stiles repeated, his voice breaking over the word. "Like Elves in Lord of the Rings? You have the pointed ears too. So how old are you?"

"That is considered a rude question among my people." I said sharply, and I frowned as he winced slightly at the tone I used. There was a brief awkward silence.

"Does that mean you won't answer?"

"That means I will not answer." I confirmed, not showing the small bit of humor I felt at his boldness. "I have a question as well."

"A question? For me?" Stiles asked, surprised and veering off the road slightly before cursing and correcting the path of the vehicle.

"If that is alright."

"Yeah! Sure, ask." Stiles said, rambling as he continued. "Ask away, I'm an open book. A totally honest, open book. Flip through my pages."

I raised an eyebrow and smirked a little as I saw the flush begin to creep up his neck once again. "What are elves? And who is the lord of the rings?"

"What?" Stiles said, before groaning "You don't know.. Of course you don't know Lord of the Rings. Elves are immortal beings in these books and movies with pointy ears that are really beautiful, and the lord of the rings is the name of the series."

"It sounds a lot like my own people." I mused, thinking "I would very much like to watch these movies."

"Do you have a TV?" Stiles asked, grinning a little and I nodded in response, wincing as I felt my head hurt once again from where I bashed it into a wall earlier. That was the box with moving pictures; I had been introduced at Sean's house and I saw one in my house still in the new box that he must have gotten Deaton to purchase for me. I frowned, remembering all the wires and things coming out of the box to make it work. "I'll let you borrow them."

"Um, I do not know how to set up the television." I admitted, glaring when he shot me what I thought may have been a look of fond exasperation.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Stiles asked, and I stopped to think before responding. I had planned to just unpack and relax a little, so nothing really.

"Healing." I said, pointedly looking at my side.

"Right." He said, laughing a little nervously. "Well, I can come over tomorrow and set up the TV for you. I'll bring the movies, we can watch one together?"

I awkwardly reached into my wet jeans pocket and fumbled with the now ruined bill fold, extracting a twenty dollar bill from my pocket and unsurely holding it out towards him. "Is this enough or..?"

"What?" Stiles asked, looking flabbergasted before laughing loudly. "Why would I want money?"

"You are setting up my television. I suppose we could trade?" I explained, once again unsure and feeling my face heat up in frustration. I did not know how the world works now, Sean said people paid for services. I was getting a migraine. I saw Stiles flush a little as well, his adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed almost nervously? Why would he be nervous?

"Uh, no. No trading." Stiles stammered, before clearing his throat and sounding more sure of himself. "No money either. We're friends. Friends set up TVs for friends without asking for anything."

"Why?"

"Why?" Stiles repeated, looking confused. "I mean, it's just nice, I guess. Friends do nice things for friends."

I narrowed my eyes at him. I know what a friend was. "Why do you consider me a friend." I clarified, trying not to snap at him. "You do not even know me."

"You came to the pool to help me." Stiles said, his eyes softening a little as we pulled up to my house and he parked in the driveway before he turned to face me. "I can get to know you."

I frowned but did not say anything in response for awhile. I guess we could be friends. I climbed out of the vehicle stiffly, trying not to jar my wounds, and I stopped to look into his whiskey eyes one more time before I closed the door and walked into my house.

"Thanks." I said with a small smile, before heading inside to my house. I barely got out of my wet clothes and got onto my bed before my eyes were closing, falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Maybe Beacon Hills would not be so bad. Definitely not boring, at least.

 **A/N: Please, please review!**


	2. Chapter 2: Cairde

**Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! Now, onto the second! Do not forget to review and favourite so I know you love me :) Also, please check out Polaris by flancake22 - Flan's OC story about Julian is amazing, and I totally had a fangirl moment when I saw that Flan followed my story. I've been reading Polaris for a month now, eagerly awaiting every update! Truly brilliant.**

Chapter Two: Cairde

 _Friends are known first in hardships._

I had almost forgotten that Stiles was going to come over until I heard the knock on my door around noon. I woke up early and, thankfully, healed all the way. I had taken a shower before I unpacked all of the boxes I had not been able to get to yesterday. I quickly finished hanging the painting of Venice I had done in the early nineteen hundreds before I made my way to the front door, opening it to reveal Stiles. He was dressed in simple blue jeans and a v-neck shirt with a plaid flannel on over it. Stiles was fidgeting slightly and he held two boxes in his hands, gesturing them at me and grinning.

"Uh, hey." Stiles said, somewhat nervously. "I was going to call, but I realized I didn't have your number. Actually, I don't even know if you have a cell phone. Do you? Have a phone I mean. We should trade numbers if you do, in case of an emergency or just if we needed to talk to each other."

"Please, come in Stiles." I said politely, stepping aside to make room for him to come into my house. I reached into my pocket and got the weird device that flipped Deaton had given me to make phone calls, handing it to Stiles. "Would you like anything to drink?"

"Oh, no I'm good for now." Stiles said, quickly punching in his own number before pressing a button on the phone. I heard the a ringing sound coming from his pocket and realised he must have called his phone so he would have my number as well. Before Stiles handed me back the device, he turned the phone around and made a funny face at it, sticking his tongue out. I heard a click and he turned it back around with a grin, showing me a picture of the face he had just made on the screen. "Now you get to see this face everytime I call!"

"You're ridiculous." I said, laughing a little bit at the ridiculous face he made. I put the phone in my pocket, and when I looked up I saw Stiles with his phone pointed at me, the grin still on his face. My eyes widened right before the click sounded again, and I rolled my eyes as he laughed at the picture he had gotten of me. When I looked at it, I chuckled a little as well; My eyes were large and I had a look of complete surprise on my face.

"So, I brought popcorn." Stiles showed me one of the boxes in his hand as we walked into the living room together. "Wow. Cool room."

My living room had a simple couch and a stand for the television inside of it with a low coffee table in between the two. What Stiles was most likely referring to was the couple of paintings on the walls, and above the fireplace were two broadswords crossing one another and forming an X.

"Thank you." I said awkwardly, before gesturing towards the box that held the television inside of it. "That is the television."

"Cool, I'll get started." Stiles said, rubbing his hands together before heading towards the big box and starting to tear into it. "So how are you feeling?"

"As though I got my arse kicked by a giant reptile." I replied, smiling sardonically.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense, huh?" Stiles said with his back still turned to me. "You were pretty awesome last night though."

"Are you sure you would not like anything to drink? I am going to get a water." I told him, already heading towards the kitchen.

"Do you have coke or anything?" Stiles asked, pulling out cardboard from inside the box that held the television.

"Yes, I will grab you one."

I grabbed both of our drinks, walking back into the living room and I was shocked at how much he had gotten done in the twenty seconds it took me to get them There was a pile of discarded cardboard beside him, and the television was already sitting on the stand with one of the cords coming out of it plugged up. He plugged in some kind of box as well, and screwed in another cord. I watched him do all of this in silence, grateful he had come over and I did not have to sit and figure it out myself. I probably would have broken the television; His long fingers were nimble and set it up as though it was second nature to him.

"Voila!" Stiles said, turning around as I walked through the door and gesturing with both of his hands, as though showcasing the television.

"Thank you." I said sincerely, handing him a coca cola. He took it and popped the tab, taking a deep drink. "I would have probably either damaged the device or myself attempting to set it up."

"No problem." Stiles said, smiling easily "So, I was thinking about last night and I wondered if I could ask more questions."

I cocked my head to the side slightly, wondering if I should allow it. I honestly did not see the harm in it, if he asked something I did not want him to know, I would either change the topic or just tell him it was a taboo subject. I believe he would understand. "If you wish to know something, you may ask."

"Why didn't the Kanima venom work on you?" He said immediately, a curious look on his face. "You didn't paralyze like Derek did and I saw you get cut. I thought you were down for the count, but you stood up and charged at the Kanima as if it didn't bother you at all."

"A trait my people have is being immune to toxins." I explained, taking a seat on the couch and gesturing for him to do the same. Stiles complied, resting his drink on the coffee table and turning in his seat to face me more fully.

"That's pretty cool." Stiles admitted, looking at me as though I were a puzzle he had yet to figure out. I shrugged, not really knowing what to say, and just kept quiet. "Why did you come to Beacon Hills? Deaton said it was to help to Scott, but you contradicted that statement."

"I had to leave my home. It was not a choice, really, because my.." I stopped talking for a moment, wondering what to call Sean. "My friend across the pond knows Deaton. He set everything up for me, I merely followed the path he had laid out in front of me."

"Why did you have to leave?" Stiles asked

"That is not a question I am comfortable answering." I replied, my face hardening a fraction at the intrusive question. I did not think he meant any harm from it, but I still did not enjoy being asked. It was all too fresh for me.

"Sorry." Stiles said, wincing as he realised how personal a question that was. "Sometimes I just talk without thinking."

"It is alright." I said, shrugging as if it had not bothered me.

"That's all I can think of." Stiles admitted, looking at me before revising his statement. "Well, all of the things that are probably going to not be way too personal."

I nodded, and opened my mouth to respond, but his phone rang. He sent me an apologetic look before jumping off the couch and answering the call, stumbling as he did so. I started fiddling with the television he had just set up for me, and I was too distracted to hear what he was saying. I also know that it was frowned upon to hear things that were private; most mortals did not have hearing anywhere near as excellent as a Sidhes, and while my people were adjusted to dealing with everyone having that kind of hearing, mortals oft forgot and said things that were private without realising they were being overheard. Stiles walked back into the living room and made a face at me before spoke.

"That was Scott. I forgot I told him I would pick him up from work." Stiles said "Raincheck on the movies and popcorn?"

"Rain check?" I asked, confused

"It's an idiom; it means we will do it some other time." Stiles explained with a grin, chuckling a little

"Oh, then yes. Rain check." I said, getting up to walk him to the door. "Thank you again for setting up the television."

"No problem. I'll see you later!" Stiles said

"Slán abhaile" I replied in gaelic, waving goodbye.

"What does that mean?" Stiles asked, and I smirked because it was his turn to be confused.

"Literally it means safe home. It is a form of saying goodbye and to be safe." I informed him

"Learn something new everyday. Slan abhaile." He said, butchering the pronunciation and making me outright laugh.

"We'll work on it." I assured him, before closing the door and hearing him walk to his jeep, the door shut, and the engine start up before leaving my driveway. He was an interesting human.

* * *

"Hey!" Scott said, he and Stiles rushing over to where I stood by my locker.

"Hello." I replied slowly, taking in their apprehensive faces and disheveled appearances. "Is everything alright?"

"Derek thinks that the Kanima is Lydia and he is going to kill her." Stiles blurt out

"Why?" I asked curiously

"Because he is Derek! He kills things!" Stiles exclaimed, ignoring the elbow from Scott in an attempt to get him to quiet down. "Does it honestly matter?"

"I meant why does he believe that Lydia is the Kanima." I said, giving him a weird look.

"She got bit by an Alpha and she didn't turn into a werewolf." Scott said firmly "but she is our friend and we have to protect her. Will you help us?"

"I suppose. Where is she now?" I asked, figuring I would go along for now. If she had to be killed eventually, and that was a last resort, then I would reevaluate the situation then. Until then, I would help keep her away from Derek because they asked me too.

"Probably on her way to our Chemistry class." Stiles said quickly. I closed my locker and started to walk down the hallway, slowing when I realised they were still standing there and just watching me walk away.

"Are you coming?" I asked expectantly, my eyebrow raised

"Uh, yeah." Scott said, and they both fell into step beside me. "We expected more questions."

"We should get her to safety first. Questions will have to wait."

"Good idea. Do not let Erica, Isaac, or Boyd near Lydia no matter what." Stiles said seriously as we walked along the hall, getting close to the chemistry classroom.

"Got it." I said, nodding my head once.

We walked through the Chemistry classroom door at the same time as Erica and Isaac did. Scott and Stiles looked straight at Lydia before rushing to sit on either side of her, and I walked at a more casual pace to sit at an empty table diagonal from them. A moment or two before the bell to signify the start of class, Allison walked in and threw a questioning glance at Scott and Stiles for sitting with Lydia.

"What's going on?" Allison whispered to me, taking a seat at my table.

"If I have all the information correct, Derek is trying to kill Lydia if she fails some test that Isaac and Erica are going to perform during class." I said softly in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. Allison just gaped at me in return, a worried look passing over her face before she lifted her chin and a determined one settled across her face. She clenched her jaw before looking back at Erica and Isaac, who just smirked at her, and I watched as her knuckles grew white from the grip she had on her binder.

"Einstein once said two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity." drawled Mr. Harris, walking down the aisle in between tables before standing behind Stiles and patting him on his shoulder while he continued to talk. "I don't know about the universe, but I myself have encountered infinite stupidity." I snorted lightly at the insult obviously directed towards the spastic kid I called a friend, and he shot me a sour look in return. I smiled back innocently as Mr. Harris kept talking. "So, to combat the plague of ignorance in my class, you are going to combine efforts through a round of group experiments. Let's see if two heads are indeed better than one. Or, in Mr. Stilinski's case, less than one. Erica, take the first station, start-"

That was when every boy in the class raised their hand, excluding Isaac, Scott, Stiles, and I, to volunteer to be her partner which in turn made the blonde haired girl smirk in satisfaction. I suppressed a chuckle at their stupidity and Allison just rolled her eyes, annoyed.

"I didn't ask for volunteers. Put your hormonal, little hands down." Mr. Harris said hotly, a glare settling on his face. "Start with Mr. McCall. Mr. Lahey, you are with Mr. Hyland. Next two-"

I tuned out the rest, waiting until he finished before grabbing my bag and cane, heading towards the table currently occupied by Isaac. I gracefully sat down in the vacant seat and began to pour the hydrogen sulfide in a test tube into a beaker.

"You know, you can't protect her forever." Isaac said with a leer. "Derek said you might even decide to help us."

"Did he?" I asked, humorlessly laughing while I swirled the contents of the beaker five times. "Derek does not know me."

"No one does. You don't know McCall, Stilinski or Lydia." Isaac countered, a smirk firmly placed on his lips. "Aren't the lives of many more important than the life of one bitch?"

"I am not interested." I said flatly "Pass the sodium chloride, please."

"Sure." Isaac said haughtily, grabbing the liquid and purposefully spilling it onto my sleeve.

I took my jacket off quickly and grabbed his wrist inhumanely fast, twisting it until I heard it break while casually looking around to make sure no one was paying attention. Isaac whimpered a little and I smirked as I noticed everyone too wrapped up in the experiments to pay any attention. I heard Isaac's heart speed up significantly as he tried to control himself and stop his body from shifting. I leaned over closer to him, whispering dangerously low into his ear. "If I kill all of you, I will not have to protect her at all. I have been doing this a long time and faced werewolves who were much more dangerous than you, pup." I grinned sadistically at him as the bell rang, signalling us to change partners. I flicked his nose before I moved to the next station. "Bad dog."

My next partner was someone I did not know, and we worked in silence unless one of us had to speak in order to read directions or ask for something. Once again, the bell rang, and I tried to get to Lydia next but Erica tripped me, which cause me to stumble for just long enough, allowing Isaac to take the seat instead. I took a seat next to Greenberg instead, a pasty boy who smelled oddly like cheese, and watched as Isaac slyly put a drop of a clear liquid on the crystal that had just formed in his and Lydia's beaker. Mr. Harris then explained that we could eat the crystal, and Scott stood up and shouted Lydia's name, causing the class to go silent and look at him.

"What?" Lydia asked, clearly annoyed

"Nothing." Scott said, sitting down with a defeated look on his face. "Nevermind."

Everyone in the room who knew what was going on anxiously watched as Lydia brought the crystal to her mouth and took a bite, munching on it slowly. I raised a curious eyebrow interestedly as nothing happened. Well, that was something. As soon as class ended, Stiles grabbed my arm and pulled me along behind Scott and Allison, going into the Coach's office and shutting the door.

"Derek is outside waiting for Lydia." Scott said, clearly stressed.

"Waiting to kill her?" Allison asked with trepidation

"If he thinks that she is the Kanima, then yeah." Scott replied "Especially after what happened at the pool."

"It's not her." Stiles said vehemently

"Stiles, she didn't pass the test." Scott said, an apologetic look on his face. "Nothing happened."

"Neither would I." I spoke up, causing three sets of eyes to look my way.

"What?" Scott asked

"I was not affected by the venom either. Well, my healing was slower than normal, but I did not get paralyzed." I told him, and Stiles sighed audibly in relief. "Maybe Lydia is immune as well. Especially if the bite did not affect her."

"It can't be her." Stiles reiterated

"It doesn't matter." Allison said dismissively "because Derek thinks it's her. So either we convince him that he is wrong or we have to figure out a way to protect her."

"I do not think they will do anything at school." I said musingly

"What about after school?" Allison said before a thoughtful look came onto her face "What if we can prove Derek is wrong?"

"There could be information in the bestiary." I said, thinking quickly

"Oh, you mean the nine hundred page book written in Archaic Latin that none of us can read." Stiles asked scathingly, causing me to frown at him.

"Wait." Scott said, looking at me. "Stiles said you were old. You can't read it?"

"No." I responded, shaking my head slightly

"Decades of experience and two letters is all you can say in response?" Stiles asked with a biting tone

"I'm old, not all knowing." I snapped, letting a glare slip onto my face. "I would have mentioned it by now if I could read it. Don't be a jackass."

"Guys!" Scott yelled just as Stiles was about to retort, looking between the two of us. "This isn't helping."

"Actually, I think I know someone who might be able to translate it." Allison's said hesitatingly

"Uh.. I can talk to Derek, maybe convince him to give us a chance to prove that it isn't her?" Scott said questioningly, before looking at Allison seriously. "But if anything happens, you let me handle it, okay?"

"What does that mean?" Allison asked, frowning

"You can't heal like I do." Scott said reasonably with a fierce, protective look on his face "I don't want you to get hurt."

"I can protect myself." Allison said, just as fierce and pulling out a crossbow from her purse with a determined look on her face. She grew concerned when she continued looking at Scott, an unidentifiable look on his face. "What? Did something else happen?"

"I just don't want you getting hurt." Scott said, his voice thick with love.

" _I don't want you to get hurt." I said, caressing Dorgon's face as we lay in bed._

" _What could hurt me?" Dorgon asked playfully, confidence radiating from him._

" _Hubris." I replied seriously, catching his hand in mine._

" _What would you have me do?" Dorgon asked angrily, sitting up in the bed and looking at me more directly. "You asked to come with me, to help me with my dream. You asked to help me win this war."_

" _I remember." I said quietly, cupping his cheek with one hand and watching the anger leave him. "It was the same day I said that I loved you like all the raindrops that fall in a summer thunderstorm."_

" _I do not understand what has changed." Dorgon murmured against my hand, kissing my open palm gently._

" _I see your face, delighting in the blood of your enemies. The pleased look as you put their heads on pikes, for the world to see. It does not become you." I said, looking at him sadly. "Your greed for power is like a snake who wants to swallow an elephant."_

" _So you think me a monster, consumed by greed?" Dorgon shouted, pulling away from me instantly and climbing out of the bed, pulling on his robes angrily and sneering at me hatefully. "Do you fear me, my loyal subject?"_

" _I do not have fear." I said, standing up as well. "I have hope. Hope is all that guides me. It gets me through the day and especially through the night. The hope that after you leave my sight, it will not be the last time I look at you."_

The sound of an arrow being released broke me out of my reverie. I looked up from the floor to see Scott holding an arrow inches from his face, looking at Stiles who was holding Allison's crossbow with a guilty expression. He slowly lowered the weapon to the table, eyes wide.

"Uh, Sorry." Stiles said sheepishly "Sensitive trigger."

Scott rolled his eyes, turning and walking out the door to go see if he could convince Derek to give us time. Allison stowed the crossbow in her purse, told us to find Lydia, and then walked out the door to track down whoever it was she had in mind to translate the bestiary. Stiles reached out to grab the door handle, before stopping and turning around to look at me awkwardly.

"I'm sorry." Stiles said, nervously tapping his fingers against the straps of his backpack. "I shouldn't have said what I did. I'm just worried, I care for Lydia. A lot. I'm afraid for her."

"No apology is necessary." I said briskly, attempting to walk past him. Stiles grabbed my arm, stopping me from walking out the door.

"You might not need to hear it, but I need to say it." Stiles said, his golden-brown eyes looking at me and trying to convey how much he meant it. "That's what friends do when they say fucked up stuff. They apologize."

"Okay." I said slowly, nodding my head in acceptance. "Then I apologize as well. For saying you are a jackass."

"Well, you weren't wrong." Stiles joked, attempting to lighten the mood.

I rolled my eyes at the self-deprecating joke, smiling a little to let him know all was forgiven, before jerking my head towards the hallway. "Let's go save Lydia."

We walked down the halls together, keeping an eye out for the strawberry blonde girl. Finally, we found her near the library. I glanced at Stiles, who gestured at me to go first. With a small sigh, I put on my most charming smile and walked up to where Lydia was.

"Hi." I said, keeping the grin on my face as Lydia quirked an eyebrow at me. "How are you?"

"How do I look?" Lydia said facetiously

"Uh, good. Beautiful as always, Lydia. You look good." Stiles stammered, a blush rising onto his cheeks which in turn made me roll my eyes. The boy could not even form a proper sentence? Seriously?

"Okay." I said amusingly, exchanging a glance with Lydia. "I was wondering if you would help me study?"

"Why?" Lydia asked

"My old school was a little behind Beacon Hills, and I think it would benefit me a lot." I told her, coming up with a believable lie. My face muscles were beginning to hurt, I was not used to smiling this much.

"You think you can flash that pretty smile and use that Irish accent and get whatever you want, don't you?" Lydia asked saucily, eyes flashing

"Uh, no?" I said unsurely

"Lydia, I told him how smart you are. He really needs help, and who could do a better job than you?" Stiles said, complimenting the girl and not stuttering once.

"Where?" Lydia asked shortly, rolling her eyes.

"Hey guys!" Allison interrupted, walking up to the three of us with a forced air of cheerfulness.

"Hey, Allison!" Stiles said in a weird voice, trying too hard to be casual. "We just told Lydia about studying together!"

"Oh, awesome!" Allison said, going along with it as though that was the plan the entire time. "Well, let's go then!"

We led Lydia through the library, our pace most likely suspiciously quick but Lydia didn't say anything. As soon as we got out of the library, Lydia stopped and was about to open her mouth when Jackson came up saying they needed to talk. Stiles told him it wasn't a good time, giving him a significant look, and Jackson rolled his eyes but nodded in acknowledgement.

"If we are studying, why did we leave the library?" Lydia asked, not moving and with a suspicious look on her face.

"Because" Allison said, thinking quickly "We are meeting someone else."

"Why didn't they just meet us in the library?" Lydia asked again, sounding a little annoyed.

"Oh!" Stiles said nervously, face palming a little over dramatically. "That would have been a great idea! Too late now!"

"Well, w-" Lydia started to say before Jackson cut her off.

"Shut up and walk, Lydia." He said, pushing her forward. The five of us made our way through the school, taking the long way. I was constantly straining my ears and keeping an eye out for any of Derek's pack. We hurried out of the back entrance, and just as we made it through the doors, I heard what sounded like claws scratching against lockers. I waved the others towards the Jeep, telling them I would catch up in a moment and ignoring Stiles questioning look. Glancing around, I saw a metal pole that used to be part of a fence laying on the ground a few feet from the door. I picked it up and hurriedly shoved it through the handles, effectively locking the door from the outside, before making my way to the Jeep as fast as I could while still maintaining my limp. I doubt that would hold long, but every second could count, so it was worth it.

When I finally got to the powder blue Jeep, I saw all of them sitting inside waiting for me; the passenger seat open. I climbed in and Stiles instantly put the car into drive and the tires screeched as we fled the parking lot. It was an awkward silence inside the vehicle until Stiles turned the radio on, bobbing his head along to the music and drumming his fingers against the steering wheel. It was not long before we were pulling up to Scott's house, and all of us got out of the Jeep, Stiles using a key he had to unlock the door before he waved us all inside.

I wasn't worried. Sidhe and Werewolves were actually pretty evenly matched; we were faster, they were stronger. They healed a lot faster, but we were usually a lot more experienced. The fact that most of them were freshly turned teenagers and inexperienced definitely made it to where the fight would be in my favor; the fight with Derek would be more up to chance, although I was willing to bet my experience would win out in the end. I'd had years to perfect my fighting style. The only problem was that I had to worry about defending the humans and fighting them off at the same time; not to mention I could probably take two of them, but all four at once? Even I was not that good.

All of us filed into the house, Stiles immediately locking the door and making sure that the window was locked as well. I strode through the house, looking to see where the back door was and how many windows there were to see how vulnerable we would be. I could hear Stiles making up some lie about there being break-ins, before dragging a wooden chair and propping it against the door, and saying there was also a murder in the area. I grabbed a pot from the kitchen, filling it with water before placing it on the stove and turning the heat on high. I made sure the door was locked and then waited until I heard Lydia and Jackson going upstairs before I went back to the front door where Stiles and Allison were.

"I put water on to boil." I informed them, peeking out the curtain and looking outside to see if there was any sign of the werewolves.

"What!" Stiles exclaimed, looking at me in disbelief "Now is not the time to be thinking of food!"

"Stiles." I said, exasperated "It's to throw on them if they enter the house, not to cook."

"Oh." Stiles said, giving me an impressed look. "Nice! You mean if they come at all, right?"

"I would say it is more of a matter of when." I answered, giving him a grim look before unsheathing my sword and handing it to him, hilt first. "If any of them get past me, chop off their head; it's the only way to know you've killed them for sure."

"Oh my god." Stiles said, looking green at the thought while Allison gave me a horrified look. "We aren't going to kill them though, right?"

"We may not have a choice." I told him, before looking at Allison. "I will cover the back door, they are more likely to come from there to attempt to surprise us. If they try to break through the front, call me. I will bring the water up here if they show up and after it is boiling. Allison, your priority is Lydia; do not let them near her. Hopefully, they won't get near the stairs but I need you to be her last defense. Everyone got it?"

I waited until they had both nodded before I walked to the back of the house, checking windows as I went and making sure no one was out there while I listened for any kind of movement. Distantly I could hear Allison and Stiles talking, but I tried to ignore it in favor of listening for noises outside the house.

"That's the most I've heard him speak." Allison whispered to Stiles, a quiver of fear in her voice.

"He's really relaxed when he isn't acting like a general." Stiles said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. I smiled softly, appreciating what he was trying to do.

They fell silent for a couple of minutes, and as it grew darker, I brought the water up to Stiles with a couple of pot holders. As I was walking back I heard Allison gasp, and I instantly spun around to head back that way. She took her phone out and called Scott, telling him that Derek and his pack were outside, before hanging up after he assured her he was on his way. My head snapped to the right as I heard someone running around the house, most likely checking out the perimeter; so they were not totally clueless to tactics, I surmised. I walked to the back, looking out there to see if anyone had posted up back there.

"What are you doing?" I heard Stiles ask

"I think I need to call my Dad." Allison said, and I could hear the anxiety in her voice.

"But if he finds you here.." Stiles said, trailing off "You and Scott.."

"I know." said Allison "What are we supposed to do? They aren't here to scare us, they are here to kill Lydia."

"But Cian-" Stiles started to say, trailing off again

"He is one person against four." Allison snapped, frustrated. She slowly took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I just.."

"I know." Stiles said "I have an idea. Shoot one of them."

"Are you serious?" Allison asked disbelievingly

"We told Scott we could protect ourselves. Cian can't fight four of them." Stiles said reasonably "So let's at least give it a shot."

"Okay." Allison all but whispered, so low I could barely hear it from where I stood, my eyes still scanning the back. I heard someone walking carefully along the side of the house, and I crouched behind the kitchen counter, out of view of the door. Hopefully, they would be too caught up in being silent they wouldn't notice my heartbeat.

"Listen, they don't think we are going to fight. So if one of them gets hit, maybe they take off. At least Cian would have one less to worry about, and it would buy us time until Scott got here. So shoot one of them. " Stiles was saying to Allison, encouraging her.

"Which one?" Allison asked, and I could hear her getting her crossbow out of her back and getting it ready to be fired. I drowned out the rest of their conversation as I heard the backdoor open and feet quietly crossing the kitchen. I saw as Isaac passed right by where I was crouching, and I silently followed him. Just as he reached Allison, I struck out with my leg to hit the back of his knee, causing him to stumble into her. Allison dropped the crossbow, and I smiled sadistically as Stiles poured the water on Isaac's legs, causing him to roar out in rage and pain.

"Go to the second floor. Guard Lydia." I commanded Allison sharply as she picked up her crossbow. The dark haired hunter nodded once before climbing the stairs, disappearing as she turned the corner.

I turned back to see Isaac getting up and threw him against a table, grimacing as the table shattered underneath him. I owed Scott's Mother a new coffee table for her living room. I was concentrating on Isaac when Stiles called my name, obviously a warning, but I did not catch it in time; arms encircled me tightly, squeezing the breath out of me. Isaac got up and grinned wolfishly as he started to walk towards me. As soon as he got close enough I kicked out with my feet, hitting him in the sternum, and then brought my head back hard to bash the person's nose who was holding me. I heard a satisfying crunch that told me it was broken, before I twisted out of their grip and faced Boyd. Boyd recovered quickly and threw a punch at me, and I grabbed his wrist before bringing my legs up and locking them around his neck, using the momentum to bring us both to the floor. I turned my head when I heard Stiles yell and saw him backing up from Isaac, my sword held out awkwardly in front of him. I let Boyd go, backhanding him with my fist for good measure, before I ran at Isaac, jumping on his back and wrapping my arms around his neck. With a snarl, Isaac grabbed me and tossed me over his shoulder and I hit the floor hard. I felt him kick me pretty hard in the ribs, one of them groaning in protest but I was pretty sure it was not broken. I did a kip up, landing on my feet, before throwing a punch, which he dodged, and then wrapping my legs around his neck as I jumped at him, sliding down slightly to elbow him in the ribs and grab his leg, ripping it upwards as hard as I could to throw him off balance, before I landed in a crouch, Isaac hitting the floor and Stiles gaping at me, my sword still held in his hands.

"Stiles!" I heard Allison shout from upstairs. "It's here!"

"The Kanima? Now?" Stiles muttered, more to himself than anyone else. I backed up with Stiles behind me as Boyd helped Isaac to get up, both of their eyes growing a dangerous amber. "You've got to be kidding me."

I watched as the two werewolves walked cautiously towards opposite sides of the room, neither of them rushing forwards and positioning themselves so that I would have my back to one if I faced off with the other. I mentally cursed to myself, I hated when they got smarter in the middle of a fight. What was I supposed to do now? I backed up slowly, trying in vain to keep them both somewhat in front of me. I heard Stiles let out a small noise as his back hit the wall, and I took a deep breath as I prepared myself for another round. I smirked in pleasant surprise as I saw Isaac crumple to the ground, Scott replacing him in the spot he had just been standing in. I instantly turned to face Boyd, who had a stunned look on his face which quickly turned calculating. Boyd was now the one backing up, until he reached the door and opened it, going outside the house.

"Did you see him run?" Stiles exclaimed gleefully

"That was a tactical retreat." I responded, watching as his face fell at my answer. "Boyd is probably the most dangerous, he has had some sort of training. He knew Derek was going to need him."

"Aw, man, you know how to burst a guys bubble." Stiles said with his shoulder slightly slumped, before cheering up almost immediately as he saw Allison and SCott heading down the stairs, Erica's paralyzed body thrown over Scott's shoulder. I grinned at Allison's self-satisfied smirk, and it morphed into a proud smile as she noticed me watching her. I nodded my head in approval.

Allison opened the door and Scott threw Isaac's unconscious body first quickly followed by Erica out of the door, both of them landing in a heap at Derek's feet. Stiles handed me my sword back as we all walked out onto the porch and faced them with serious looks on our faces.

"I think I'm finally getting why you keep refusing me, Scott." Derek said, a modicum of respect on his face which quickly turned into a smirk as he continued talking. "You're not an Omega. You're an Alpha, of your own pack… but, you know you can't beat me."

"I can hold you off until the cops get here." Scott replied confidently, just as we all heard police sirens in the distance.

It was then that we all heard a hissing sound and saw the Kanima climbing out of Scott's window. I stole a glance at Stiles and felt bad for the poor kid as I saw the crestfallen look on his face. He had wanted it not to be her so badly. I was confused when I saw the look of relief appear on his face until I saw Lydia coming out of the house.

"What the hell is going on?" She demanded angrily.

I looked at Scott, who had a resigned look on his face as he figured out what that meant. He sighed before saying exactly what I had been thinking out loud.

"It's Jackson."


	3. Chapter 3A: Scealta

**Authors Note: Shout out to BloodyAvenger21 for the reviews! This chapter is getting put up so fast because of you! I truly appreciate the encouragement! This was a shorter chapter, I decided to split one episode into two chapters. (I won't bother explaining why.) I would really love to see some more reviews! Thanks for the continued support!**

Chapter Three: Scealta

 _A gem is not polished without rubbing_

 _Nor a man perfected without trials._

I had not decided if it was this town or the damn teenagers that I decided to call friends, but this town kept me busy. Since my arrival in Beacon Hills and slow growing friendship with Scott and Stiles, I had not had enough dull moments. There was always some kind of emergency. Stiles was driving his beloved Jeep and following Scott, who had just jumped out and over a fence to follow Derek and the Kanima. Well, I guess we were calling it -him?- Jackson now. Apparently, we were not the only ones eager to get Jackson either because the Argents were out hunting tonight as well.

"Damnit." Stiles muttered, throwing his Jeep into reverse as we came upon yet another dead end.

"Turn right here." I said calmly, hearing gunshots coming from that general direction. Stiles turned the wheel quickly, the jeeps tires squealing as they worked to make the machine turn in time without flipping us over.

"How are you so calm all the damn time?" Stiles grumbled, shooting me a sour look.

"I have had a lot of practice." I replied with a lazy grin, gesturing with my hand. "Left."

Stiles whipped the jeep to the left and I grabbed what he had called the 'oh shit' handle to brace myself. His driving was honestly making me a nervous wreck, I was just trying not to let it show. I missed the days when everyone used horses to drive; at least those had a survival instinct. This hunk of metal would crash us into the wall without any hesitation. I frowned when I couldn't hear anything all of a sudden, the gunshots and noises of fighting stopping altogether. Stiles phone gave a beep from where it was in the center console, and he glanced down at him before redirecting his attention to the road.

"Read it." Stiles said, both eyes trained ahead

"Scott says that he is by some club called Jungle." I read, before letting out a groan as my eyes scanned the rest of the message on the screen. "He lost him."

"Great." Stiles deadpanned "How do you even lose a six foot lizard monster?"

"I hear music that way." I said, pointing down a side street and ignoring his sarcasm altogether. We turned down the road and saw a line of people waiting to be admitted into a building, a neon sign above it that said Jungle. I jumped from the vehicle as soon as we Stiles parked, leaving my cane and deciding it was worth it to take the risk I might see someone who knows I usually have it. I waited for Stiles to join me before I pointed to where I saw Scott peeking out from an alley around the corner from the line of people. Stiles crouched down and ran over to where Scott was, I followed silently and stood behind Stiles, wondering why we were sneaking in the first place.

"What do we know?"

"Holy cr-" Scott half yelled

"What-" Stiles started to say before he noticed the glare Scott was sending his way. "Sorry, I'm sorry. Did you see where he went?"

"I lost him." Scott said, shaking his head

"You cannot catch his scent?" I asked curiously

"I don't think he has one." Scott frowned

"All right." I said, thinking "Any clue where he is going?"

"To kill someone."

"Ah. That explains the claws and the fangs and all that. Good. Makes perfect sense." Stiles said sarcastically, and Scott threw him a dirty look while my lips twitched, fighting to keep down my amusement. "What? Scott. Come on. I'm a hundred and forty-seven pounds of pale skin and fragile bone, okay? Sarcasm is my only defence."

"Just help me find it." Scott replied, turning back to face the line of people waiting to be admitted.

"Not it. Jackson." Stiles reminded him

"So we are calling it Jackson even when it's going all scaley?" I asked, remembering my earlier internal debate. I got two suprised looks in response to my question and I self-conciously crossed my arms across my chest. "What?"

"Dude." Stiles said, a small grin working its way onto his face. "That's like the most modern I have ever heard you sound. Contraction and all."

"I've been watching a lot of television." I said, grinning a little proudly back before getting serious once again when I saw Scott shoot us both disbeliveing looks. "Which is not important right now. Right"

"Right." Stiles said, noticing Scott's face as well. "Does he know he's the Kanima? Did anyone else see him at your house?"

"I mean, I don't think so." Scott said, obviously contemplating "but he already passed Derek's test."

"But how did he pass the test?" Stiles asked rhetorically, and I could see the gears working in his mind.

"I don't know." Scott said simply

"Well-" I started to say, and idea forming in my head. "A snake cannot be poisoned by its own venom, but a human can."

"When is the kanima not the kanima?" Stiles asked, and I looked at him as it hit me.

"When it's Jackson." I replied, nodding

"Uh, guys, look." Scott said, pointing up to a window where we saw a tail disappearing through a window leading into the club. Scott's panicked face quickly turned to one of understanding though as he suddenly sniffed the air. "Armani."

"What?" Stiles asked, looking as confused as I felt.

"I know who he's after." Scott said, looking at us before going to try to open a back door and finding it locked. "It's Danny."

"How do we get in there?" Stiles asked "Maybe there's like, a, uh- like a window we could climb through, or some kind of-"

Stiles was interrupted by the sound of grating metal, both of us changing the direction we were looking to from up where the windows were to Scott, marching through the now open door and tossing a broken door knob behind him back into the alleyway.

"-handle that we could rip off with supernatural strength." Stiles finished sarcastically, looking at me and rolling his eyes. "How did I not think of that?"

"Because you do not have supernatural strength?" I suggested, winking at him as I followed Scott into the club. I grinned as I saw all of the lights and heard the thrum of the music, practically making the floors vibrate and my heart jump in my chest. There were men dancing close together, some of them handsome and half-naked. I found it fascinating how much dancing had changed since I had last been to some kind of gathering outside of my own people's. It was so primal, so shameless; I absolutely loved it.

"Dude, everyone in here is a dude." Scott said, looking around. "I think we are in a gay club."

"Man. Nothing gets past those keen werewolf sense, huh Scott?" Stiles asked sarcastically, and I stifled a snort at seeing him surrounded by men who were dressed as women, dramatic makeup on their face. They were stroking and petting Stiles, who looked like he would rather be anywhere else.

"What do we do?" Scott asked as Stiles untangled himself from the men appearing as women and joined us. "I can't find either of them."

"Split up to look. Do not forget to keep an eye on the ceiling, predators often attack from the high ground." I suggested, taking off my v-neck shirt and tucking it into the back pocket of my jeans, revealing my smooth, pale torso. I had lightly defined abdominal muscles and a v that started at my hips and dipped into my jeans, going towards my groin.

Wha-?" Stiles asked, his face flushing as he took in my half-naked appearance. "What are you doing?"

"Blending in." I said simply, walking off to the dance floor to try and look for Danny.

"Dude. You are totally staring at his-" I heard Scott start to say before the music drowned them out and I got sucked into the crowd. It was almost stifling amongst all the bodies, dancing to the beat, and it was not long before I felt a body slide up behind mine. I allowed them to dance behind me, moving my hips like I saw all of the other men doing, and I could feel his arms encircle my waist and come to rest both hands on my hip bone. I rotated around, looking for Danny and basically ignoring the guy behind me, just dancing to the beat and keeping my eyes scanning. I grinned as I saw Danny, dancing with a cute guy, and started to look where Scott and Stiles had run off too. I got away from the guy behind me as soon as I felt something firm poking me, and saw Stiles with Scott at the bar, both of them facing the dancing crowd. As I got closer, I could see that Scott had a dopey grin on his face and Stiles looked kind of grumpy, both of them sipping some kind of drink out of plastic cups.

"Having fun?" Stiles asked drily, his eyes flicking down to my navel, shining with a light sheen of sweat, before going back up to meet my eyes.

"Yes." I answered honestly, smiling at him, before pointing back towards where I had come from. "I found Danny!"

"You didn't get him?" Stiles asked

"You said find him, not retrieve him!" I said defensively "What was I supposed to say? We think Jackson is here to kill you, follow me?"

"I found Jackson." Scott said suddenly, and I gave them both a knowing look as I saw his eyes trained upwards. Jackson was crawling along rafters above the dancefloor. Stiles rolled his eyes at me but didn't say anything.

"You two get Danny." Scott said, giving me a pointed look at the word 'get that I promptly ignored. "I'll get Jackson."

"How are you going to get him?" Stiles asked, watching as Scott thrust his arm to the side and extended his claws. "Works for me."

Stiles and I started trying to make our way to Danny, who had gotten further into the crowd since I left him. A lot of people were in our way, and we determinedly pushed people aside as we attempted to reach him. I could hear Stiles calling his name over and over again, barely heard even with my supernatural hearing over the music. As soon as the smoke got released it was impossible to see where he was, and I felt slightly worried as I could barely see or hear. I had never had my sense obstructed like this; it was not a good feeling. The feeling grew worse when I heard people screaming, and small thuds I barely heard over the roar of the music. Suddenly I was being jostled as people ran from what I assumed was the Kanima. The next thing I knew I heard Scott yell out Jackson's name and Scott running out of the back door of the club. I found Stiles and we pushed our way through the crowd to follow him.

"Blood." Stiles said, pointing to the ground where a trail of dark, red blood led to where most of the cars were parked.

We reached Scott at the end of the trail and saw him bending over a bloodied and naked Jackson. Scott asked Stiles and I to get Jackson into the jeep while he went to ask Danny some questions in order to figure out why Jackson may have been after him in the first place. By now, EMT's had arrived on the scene in their vehicles with flashing lights and were escorting the paralyzed men out of the building.

"Head or feet?" I asked Stiles

"God, this is way more of Jackson than I ever wanted to be near too." Stiles complained, grabbing underneath Jackson's armpits.

"You must admit, he is handsome." I commented, grabbing his feet before smirking at Stiles and pointedly looking at Jackson's genitals and back to Stiles face. "Although, I see why he acts so.. Cocky."

"You didn't just say that." Stiles groaned, gaping at me as we shuffled along to the jeep awkwardly. "I think I'm going to be sick. His shitty personality dwarfs any other redeeming physical feature. Besides, he isn't that impressive, I'm way-"

"Yes?" I asked, surprised, letting a sly grin come over my face when I thought about what he was most likely about to say. "Please continue. You're way what?"

"Nevermind." Stiles said, his cheeks heating up and scowling at me as I teased him. "Just help me get him into the jeep."

I laughed quietly as we loaded him in the back, at both what Stiles had said and the disgusted look on his face when he put a pair of sweatpants on Jackson to cover him. We both hopped into the jeep and waited until Scott came running up, hopping in the back with Jackson, and listened as he told us that he had not gotten anything out of Danny.

"Alright. Let's get the hell out of here before one of my Dad's deputies see me." Stiles said, going to turn the key as soon as a car with flashing blue lights pulled up in front of us. "Oh my god. Could this get any worse?"

"Get rid of him!" Scott exclaimed, gesturing to the brown-haired man getting out of the police vehicle.

"Get rid of him?" Stiles asked, panicking "This is a crime scene and he's the sheriff!"

"Do something!" Scott yelled as Stiles father started walking towards the jeep.

Stiles groaned, doing a spazzy motion and basically tripping out of the car to meet his father halfway. As soon as I heard his father start to yell at him, I grabbed my cane and started to get out of the car. Scott grabbed my arm with an alarmed look on his face.

"That might be a bad idea, dude." Scott warned

"I will be fine." I told him, shaking off his arm and opening the door, gracefully climbing out. I put on my most pleasant smile as I approached them.

"..The hell is going on, Stiles?" The Sheriff was saying, gesturing angrily, before he noticed me walking up. I extended my hand, still smiling, and the Sheriff look confused as he took it and shook it hesitatingly.

"Hello, Sheriff." I said conversationally, noticing the flash of pity in his eyes as he took in my limp before it disappeared. "My name is Cian Hyland."

"You're one of Stiles friends?" Sheriff Stilinski asked

"I am, sir." I confirmed, allowing a guilty expression to come over my face. " I am also the reason we are here tonight. I noticed how upset you were and I wanted to apologize personally for that."

"Is that so?" the Sheriff asked with an evaluating look, glancing at Stiles who quickly wiped the dumbstruck look off of his face and nodded in agreement.

"Yes sir." I said, lowering my eyes in fake shame. "I recently moved here, and Scott and Stiles were nice enough to show me around. It can be hard to meet someone when I have this beauty" I emphasized my point by tapping my leg with my cane, ignoring the clenching in my stomach at using a fake limp to lie to a kind-hearted man. "I knew Stiles would be too kind to say it was because of me, but I didn't want him to get into trouble."

The Sheriff instantly softened, the anger leaving him as suddenly as it had come. He looked over to his son, who was looking at his father with wide eyes to see if he would still be in trouble. "You guys are good friends. That's really great of you guys."

"They are." I agreed, meeting Stiles golden brown eyes with my own gray ones. "I'm honored to be counted among their friends."

"I'm just glad that Stiles finally made such a well-mannered friend." Sheriff Stilinski joked, before waving us away. "Alright, you guys get out of here. Stay out of trouble."

Stiles clapped his father on the arm and I waved a good-bye, both of us heading back towards the jeep where Scott was waiting. After we climbed in, Stiles put it into drive and we drove off, leaving the club parking lot. I passively stared out of the window and watched as we passed buildings.

"Where do you think we should take him?" Scott asked Stiles as we raced along the streets.

"What about your house?" Stiles asked, his eyes flickering between the road and looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Not with my mom there!" Scott responded loudly "We need to take him somewhere we can hold him long enough to figure out what to do with him or convince him that he is dangerous."

"I still say we just kill him." Stiles said, and he looked up surprised as I let out a loud laugh.

"We aren't killing him." Scott said, shooting me a disapproving look.

"Okay, okay." Stiles said, pausing a moment to think before his eyes widened. "I've got an idea!"

"Does it involve breaking the law?" Scott asked tentatively

"By now don't you think that's a given?" Stiles responded sardonically.

"I was trying to be optimistic." Scott said, sighing a little

"Don't bother."

I smiled at the easy banter between the two, squashing the slight feeling of jealousy as I remembered having that sort of relationship with a friend I had left behind. It was not long that I had to dwell on the thoughts, though, because pretty soon we were pulling up outside of the police station, the side of the building where they kept the vehicles. Stiles explained what he had in mind; to steal a prisoner transport vehicle and keep Jackson locked inside of it.

"Now all we have to do is get the keys from the guard." Stiles said nervously, his heart beating faster with anxiety.

"I can do it." I volunteered, grabbing my ever present messenger bag and my cane before opening the door and hopping gracefully out of the vehicle. "Come with me, Stiles."

"Wait, what's the plan?" Stiles asked spastically

"I am going to ask." I replied with a mischievous grin, getting out of the jeep. "Now come on. I cannot drive."

We walked to the guard station, me with a calm gate and Stiles a bundle of nerves and energy beside me. The guard looked up as we approached; He was a middle-aged man with a pot belly in his uniform. He seemed more curious than suspicious as we approached, recognizing Stiles almost instantly.

"What are you doing here, Stiles?" the guard asked

"Uh, hey. Mr Lloyd." Stiles said, looking at me as if asking 'what now?'

Quickly, I reached into my bag and brought out a small wooden box, emptying the contents into my hand before blowing the powder into the guard's face. I ignored Stiles gasp as the man started coughing loudly, fanning his face to try and get the powder away from his air tubes, and Stiles started to stammer apologies about his mentally handicapped friend. I calmly waited patiently for the vacant look to appear in the man's eyes before I started to speak to him, hushing Stiles with a hand motion.

"Good evening. I would like for you to hand me the keys to that vehicle." I told him firmly, pointing to the vehicle Stiles wanted to apprehend, and as Stiles disbelieving look, I added the word please as well. Stiles rolled his eyes but his mouth fell open in shock as Mr. Lloyd dug into his pockets and pulled the keys out, putting them in my outstretched hand. "Thank you. Once we are gone, I would like for you to kindly forget we were ever here. If they ask what happened to the vehicle, tell them that it was there when you last checked and that you saw no one around last night."

I walked away, pulling Stiles with me when I realized he wasn't moving, just staring at the man. I gave him a triumphant smile as I took in the look on his face, and it was not until we were in the vehicle driving away that the questions started. Scott was following us in the jeep, and I was honestly surprised Stiles had waited until we were out of the parking lot before the onslaught.

"What was that?" Stiles asked, half anxious and half excited "Is it going to hurt him? Do you have more? Does it work on everyone? That was awesome! Don't get me wrong, but I feel kind of guilty too, you know what I mean?"

"It is called Devil's Breath, not if he is only exposed once and it isn't a prolonged exposure." I answered his questions in the order he asked them "It is very rare, so I do not have any more, no. It works on most humans, the less willpower they have the better the effects. I am not only aware of the guilt you are experiencing but I also share in it. Although, I suspect it is more from the act of stealing than using the Devil's Breath. I hope he does not get into too much trouble. Does that answer all of your questions?"

"For now." Stiles responded before assuring me that his father would most likely not go too hard on the man.

"He seemed extraordinarily kind." I said softly, referring to Stiles father.

"Yeah." Stiles said, a fond look on his face "Hey. About earlier.."

"I apologize if I overstepped." I said hurriedly, glancing at him from the corner of my eye. "I merely wanted to help."

"I wanted to say thank you." Stiles said sincerely "Why did you do it?"

"I did not want you to have to lie to your father when you obviously did not want too." I said, before ashamedly admitting "I heard how he said that he has heard a lot of lies lately. I did not want you to have to do another one."

Stiles looked at me and let out a deep breath, smiling at me. "That was nice of you."

"It was nothing." I assured him with a small smile

"It wasn't nothing." Stiles contested, making eye contact before focusing on the road again. "Ever since Scott and I have met you, you've been helping us. It's great not to feel like I'm- We are alone in this anymore. And I.. well, I'm proud to be your friend as well."

"Thank you." I replied softly, squeezing his shoulder affectionately. It was quiet the rest of the ride with us both lost in our thoughts and the radio playing in the background.

As we pulled up to the spot Stiles had picked for us to hide out, I climbed out of the heavy-duty transport van and helped Scott put Jackson into the back of it, handcuffing him to the floor with chains. I yawned loudly, attracting the attention of Scott and Stiles. I had not slept the night before, I had gotten wrapped up in painting, and I did not realize we would be chasing a Kanima for half of the night.

"Do you want me to take you home?" Stiles asked, turning towards me.

"No, I'll run." I replied

"Okay." Stiles said, looking towards Scott "We should stay the night, watch Jackson. I doubt my Dad will be home tonight."

"My Mom is on the night shift, so I'm free too." Scott said

I said my good-byes to the two boys before heading towards my house, holding my cane in one hand by the middle. It wasn't longer before I made it back and I gratefully climbed the stairs to my bedroom, shedding my jeans and t-shirt before collapsing on my bed. I blearily thought I should bring those two breakfast in the morning since they were guarding all night before sleep overcame me.

 **AN: Please someone review! I'm desperate!**


	4. Chapter 3B: Scealta

**A/N: Thank you for all the support everyone! Continue to review and I will continue to update as fast as I can!**

Chapter 3: Scealta

 _A jewel is not polished without rubbing,_

 _Nor a man perfected without trials._

"May I ask you a question?" I asked Stiles, handing him the bag with the sandwiches I had made this morning. It was almost time for school, Scott had gone ahead, but Stiles had once again volunteered to stay with Jackson instead. I had ran to the spot in the woods with the police transport vehicle this early, with just enough time to have a conversation before I was late to class.

"You just did." Stiles told me, his face lighting up as he opened the bag to see the food "but yeah, sure. Anything for my savior! Thanks for the food."

"Why haven't you told your father the truth?" I asked, noticing how Stiles tensed "I know it is not my place to ask. I'm just.. Curious. I know you do not like to lie to him, would it not be easier if he knew?"

"No, it's okay." Stiles said, sighing deeply and relaxing a little before answering. "I guess I do it to protect him. Since Scott got bit, we are involved no matter what. My dad.. My dad is all I have besides Scott, and I think keeping him in the dark is the only way to keep him safe from all of this."

I stopped and considered his words a moment, smiling gently at him. "That is very brave of you."

"Is it? Sometimes it feels selfish. I couldn't bear to lose him, I think it would kill me. So I keep him in the dark even though he would want to know." Stiles said sadly

"I think it is the opposite." I said confidently "It is almost completely selfless. You are thinking of your father's well being before what would make your life easier. A lot of people would have told him, passing the responsibility on to an adult or the police, but instead you and Scott shoulder the burden so he does not have too. It is quite admirable."

"Thanks." Stiles said, a contemplating look on his face. "I think I needed to hear that."

"Of course." I responded, looking at him seriously and clapping him on the shoulder. "You are not alone anymore. I am not going anywhere, anytime soon."

"I'll hold you to that." Stiles told me, grinning once again and lightening the serious atmosphere around us. "Now, go to school or you'll be late!"

"What about you?" I protested "You stayed all last night!"

"I've aldy clghed ot fer togay" Stiles said, talking around the mouthful of sandwich he had pulled out of the bag.

"May you repeat that, but in English?" I asked, grimacing in disgust, before chuckling a little and handing him a bottle of water I had brought. "I could stay with you, if you are staying."

"I've already called out for today." Stiles said with a wink, gulping the water and swallowing before he repeated the words. "The more of us out of school, the more suspicious it would look. Now, off to school, Hyland! Go learn something."

I scowled at him but did not say anything because I knew he was right. I huffed childishly, rolling my eyes and turning on my heel to head through the preserve to get to the school. Stiles laughed at either my misfortune of having to go to school or my behavior, I was not sure which one.

"Don't forget to take notes and get my homework!" Stiles called after me in an amused tone of voice as I began jogging. I flipped him a rather rude hand gesture, smiling as I heard the chortle my action had evoked from him. I was surprised at how easily I communicated with Stiles, I hadn't been so at ease with someone in quite awhile. It was especially strange because how small amount of a time we had known one another. I chalked it up to his easygoing, talkative nature as well as the danger we had been through already, along with Scott.

* * *

By the time I made it to school, it was half-way into first period. I could not really bring myself to care, honestly, so I opened the door and made my way quietly to my seat so as not to interrupt the class. The first few periods were uneventful, but I dutifully took detailed notes in my neat handwriting and collected Stiles' homework in the classes we shared a teacher or were in together. During lunch, I saw Scott sitting at an empty table and I walked over, sitting down across from the teenage werewolf.

"Hello." I said, waving with one arm as I dug an apple out of my bag.

"Hey!" Scott said a little excitedly, a peculiar gleam in his eye as he looked at me. "I'm glad you came to school!"

"Why is that?" I asked suspiciously, wondering what he wanted and taking a bite out of my apple.

"Can't I just be glad my friend is here and that I'm not eating lunch alone?" Scott asked, faking a pout and turning his best puppy eyes on me.

"You can." I agreed, raising an eyebrow at him. "However, in my experience, when someone responds to a question with another question in the same manner as you just did, it means they are either avoiding a subject or they want something, and do not want to admit it."

"Okay." Scott confessed, deflating a little. "I need a favor."

"How may I help, Scott?" I asked, shaking my head and smiling a little at him.

"I'm going to ask Danny about Jackson after school." explained Scott, pausing for a moment as he took a drink. "I want you to come with me."

"Why?" I asked, confused "I barely know him. Certainly not well enough to warrant a visit to him in the hospital."

"Well, because.. You're.." Scott said, gesturing to my face and stumbling with his words. "You know."

"You want me to seduce it out of him." I said, a blank look on my face.

"Well, he likes to look at you. I mean, you're nice to look at. Uh, wait-" Scott was flustered and turning a lovely shade of red as he tried to find the right words.

"Aw. You think I'm handsome, Scott?" I fake cooed, fluttering my eyelashes at him in an over exaggerated manner. "Does Allison know you go both ways? I would hate to come betwee-"

"Shut up." Scott groaned, putting his head between his hands, his face turning an even more vibrant shade of red. "Please don't make this even more embarrassing."

"Alright." I laughed and quit poking fun at the cute werewolf. "I will come with you."

"Thanks, man." Scott said, his face going back to the normal shade of tan.

Scott and I spent the rest of lunch goofing off with one another and just enjoying eachothers company. I asked questions about some things I had not understood on the television last night, and Scott patiently answered all of them, but not without teasing me first. The two of us had not been in any real social situation together, so it was quite amazing to see this light hearted side of Scott. Usually, we only talked about the supernatural or some plan; this time, however, we talked about his mother, Ireland, and he even regaled me with stories about times he and Stiles had gotten into trouble with one another. I think we both needed the chance to pretend to be normal, because we carefully avoided any topic involving the supernatural for the entire period. I got up from the table when the bell rang, my ribs hurting slightly from laughing so much, and I felt much lighter than I had when I sat down at the beginning of lunch.

My next class was Art and we were still working on the project to paint a memory that evokes a strong emotion. I was quite close to being done, so I was excited to attend and work on it today. I set up my easel with practiced ease, got the paint out that I would need, and looked over it critically. Allison had taken to setting her belongings next to mine, with Lydia on her other side. The two girls greeted me as they walked into class, Allison walking over to where I had already gotten started while Lydia went to grab some supplies.

"Wow." Allison said, admiring my painting of Huangshang, a mountain in the southern province of China renowned for the aesthetics. The mountain had the most fascinating irregular outcroppings and beautiful sunsets that painted the sky in an orange-pink color that was next to impossible to recreate on canvas, though I was doing my best. "That's a memory?"

"Yes." I told her with a fond smile at the painting. "A sight I have not seen in three hundred years."

"Three hundred?" Allison sputtered, eyes wide with shock, and I realised the mistake I had made too late.

"Shh!" I hissed, bumping her arm with mine. "Say it louder next time."

"That's.." Allison said, trailing off while she processed the information. "That is crazy. You must have seen so many amazing things."

"Yes." I told her wistfully, glancing to see her eyes locked onto my face as I spoke. "I have also seen my share of pain, of horrible things. Unspeakable things. The past is somewhere it is best not to dwell in, not when there are future moments to look forward too."

"I think I understand what you're saying." Allison said thoughtfully, and the rest of the time was spent in a companionable silence as we worked.

I met up with Scott after the final bell and we headed to the hospital to visit Danny, to see what he knew about why Jackson would be coming after him as the Kanima. Ever since my talk with Allison, I had been rather melancholy; it was such a big change from lunch, and that was why Scott kept sending me worried glances in between looking at the road.

"Are you okay?" He asked as we pulled out of the parking lot in his Mom's vehicle.

"I am fine." I assured him, shooting a soft smile that I am positive he could tell was fake. I did not bother trying any better because I knew he would know I was lying; the guy is a werewolf, after all.

"My mom always says fine stands for freaking out, insecure, neurotic, and emotional." Scott said, which instantly got me to start chuckling which in turn made him smile as well. Scott was so incredibly nice, always looking out for everyone else.

"I have done a lot I am not proud of." I told him, being purposefully vague

"We all have." Scott said reassuringly "We all make mistakes.

"I have been around much longer than most. I have made more mistakes than most." I said doubtfully "I have done a lot more bad than most."

"I think you shouldn't focus on the past so much." Scott said, earning another chuckle from having my advice from earlier thrown back at me. "Besides, I'd be willing to bet you have done a lot more good than most people as well."

"You're right, of course. I am dwelling, it is silly of me." I said, brightening up a little. I just needed to remember all the good things I have ever done.

"I know!" said Scott cheerfully, making a funny face and once again causing me to laugh.

"You are ridiculous, Scott McCall!" I exclaimed, making my own funny face in return.

"Please." Scott scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Don't forget cute and hilarious, by the way!"

Scott turned up the radio using a dial and proceeded to tunelessly sing along to some song about fireworks. By the time we arrived at the hospital, I had a stitch in my side and a grin on my face, my previous mood forgotten almost completely. We sobered up as we got out of the car, adorning serious looks before we took the elevator to the floor Scott said Danny would be on. The hospital smelled of chemicals, making me scrunch my nose up in disgust, and all of the workers were running around; it looked like organized chaos when the doors opened. Scott seemed to fall right into the chaos as though it were second nature, and that plus him not even noticing the smell, reminded me that his mother worked at this very hospital. He was probably here quite a bit. When we reached the door, Scott knocked and waited for the come in before opening the door and gesturing for me to go first. Danny was sitting on the bed and had just picked up his bag from the floor when we walked in.

"Hey, Scott!" Danny said, smiling, and then a look of surprise came over him when he noticed me. "Hey, Cian. `What are you guys doing here?"

"I wanted to check on you." Scott told him, smiling until he noticed Danny's face drop a little. I noticed it as well, and thought about what Scott had said.

"When Scott told me he was coming, I thought I would check to see if you were alright as well." I said, sending him my most charming smile. Danny's face immediately perked up as soon as the words were out of my mouth. I was right, he had been disappointed when Scott implied he was the one coming and I had just tagged along. I gave Danny a bashful look, before adding "I hope that was okay?"

"Yeah, definitely. I'm way glad you came." Danny said, basically ignoring Scott and staring straight at me. "I'm great! They are letting me out, actually."

"That's great!" Scott said "So is everything okay between you and Jackson?"

"Yeah, everything is fine." Danny told him with a strange look on his face. Scott was about as subtle as a bull inside of a shop made of glass. Danny shrugged while he rifled through his bag, and then let out a groan when he realized something was missing. "Did they have to take my fake ID?"

"You didn't do anything to make him angry?" Scott asked, watching intently as Danny contemplated his question.

"How angry?"

Scott glanced at me, I shrugged, and then he looked back at Danny. "On a scale of one to ten - one being 'kind of irritated' and ten 'wanting to kill you violently.'"

Well.." Danny said, looking at the two of us "He's always kind of at a four, but we're good! I was actually doing him a favor."

"What was the favor?" I asked, my curiosity piqued

"I was recovering a video for him. I put it on my tablet." Danny answered, wincing as he continued. "Which is still in the trunk of my car. Which is still at the club, unless it got towed."

"What was on the video?" Scott all but demanded

"I'm not really supposed to say." Danny responded unsurely, looking back and forth between us.

"Danny, what would you say if I told you this was a matter of life and death." Scott persisted

"I'm not supposed to say." Danny said, raising his eyebrows but staying firm. Scott gave me a pointed look before he said that he wanted to talk to his mom before we left. I told him I would be here and to come get me when he was done.

"Danny." I said softly, smiling as I sat down on the bed next to him. I was relatively short for a male, only five feet and seven inches, so compared to Danny I was short. I had to look up at him, but it worked in my favor; I looked up through my eyelashes at him, trying to look bashful. "I admire you, you know."

Danny blushed and ducked his head a little, before meeting my gray eyes again. "What? Why?"

"I think it is amazing that you would keep your friends secret." I told him honestly, reaching over and touching his arm. I ran my fingers along the muscles in his forearm as I continued to talk to him "and believe me when I say that I would never ask you to betray that trust if it was not important. So, please Danny, what was on the video?"

Danny sighed, looking down at his hands while he spoke. "I honestly don't know. It was a recording of him sleeping. What I do know is that someone deleted part of the video, and when Matt pointed that out to me, I recovered the missing footage. I never saw that though, I didn't look!"

"Okay. Thank you so much, Danny." I said, smiling at him as I stood up. "I will not tell anyone what you told me. You really are a great friend."

"Thanks." Danny said, and then I saw a flash of determination come across his face. "Would you like to go out sometime? With me? On a date?"

"I am flattered, Danny." I told him, and he shot me a disappointed look. "You are gorgeous, sweet, and funny. I do not date. My last relationship ended badly, and it would not be fair to either of us for me to start something with another person. Especially with the state of my life right now."

"Okay. I guess I understand." Danny said, still looking disappointed, before he smiled at me. "If you ever change your mind?"

"You will be the first to know." I promised, walking out of door and almost running into Scott. I scowled at him and he held out his hands defensively. "It is rude to eavesdrop."

"Sorry." Scott apologized sheepishly "I was coming to get you. We have to meet Allison and Stiles after we look for the tablet. Police know Jackson is missing."

"Damn." I cursed and the two of us hurried out of the room, down the elevator, and towards his mom's car quickly. Scott told me he had not listened to everything, so he wanted me to recap everything Danny had said for him while we drove over to the club.

"He must have been recording the change." Scott said, glancing as I hummed in agreement. When we arrived to Danny's car, we popped the trunk and found it unsatisfyingly empty. Scott cursed before he quickly said to forget it and got back into the car, ready to go after Allison and Stiles. As we were heading to the preserve, Scott sent me a sly look. "So.. Danny asked you out, huh?"

"Yes." I said, refusing to elaborate.

"And you said no." Scott continued

"Yes."

"Why?" Scott asked

"You heard why, I am sure." I said, looking out the window.

"I thought that was a cop out." Scott admitted, pausing for a moment. "I really wasn't trying to eavesdrop on a private conversation. It can be hard not too, as I'm sure you know."

"I know." I said, rolling my eyes and shooting him a tight smile. "My last relationship was bad, and I also hardly ever take mortals seriously when they have crushes; it is the physical appeal that all of my race possesses. They are not attracted to me for my mind, but my body; I am too old to want a purely physical relationship."

"So, it was that bad?" Scott asked, watching as my knuckles turned white on the hand gripping my cane.

"It was that bad." I told him quietly

* * *

" _Ru Xiang!" A messenger called my name from outside my home. It was a nice, one level home with rice paper doors and a beautiful garden in the very center. The entire dwelling radiated a peace and calmness my life presently lacked, and I drew strength from it for that reason. I moved quickly from the spot in the garden I had been meditating in, making my way to the sliding door to reveal the worried Chinese boy._

" _What news?" I asked the out of breath boy, who had obviously ran the entire way here from most likely the palace itself. He had nicer clothes on than most servants, which is why I assumed he was from the palace proper._

" _Ru Xiang." The messenger repeated, bowing low out of respect for me before his watering eyes pinned me down in place, causing my heart to feel ten times its normal weight. "You must help us! Lord Tao has gone mad! He executed the council and has begun slaughtering his servants. The guards do nothing but obey him! You are the only one who can help! Please, my sister is in there!"_

 _I grabbed my sword from the hallway and strapped it around my waist. I ran, forgetting my horse and knowing it would most likely slow me down anyway. I ran at an inhuman speed, flying by humans and buildings until they were but a flash of color on either side of me. As I drew near to the palace, I could hear the screams and I could almost smell the terror in the air. The screams were loud, coming from the throne room, and it was there that I hastened. As I approached the doors, two guards with spears blocked my path._

" _Move." I ordered, looking at them with hard eyes and a blank face._

" _Lord Tao has commanded us to allow no one in or out until he bids us to do so." One of the guards spoke, lowering his eyes so as to not meet mine. The people knew well of me, and they knew what I was capable of._

" _Move, or I will move you." I said again, looking between the two coldly._

" _Please, we are only doing our jo-" The one who was speaking for them both was cut off as I slashed his throat, before turning to the other and grabbing the spear as he tried to impale me on it. I quickly got behind him, holding the spear, and put my knee into his back as I brought the spear to his throat and suffocated him with his own weapon._

" _May you find peace in the next life." I murmured as I stepped over the, forcing the doors open with a loud bang._

 _The sight that greeted me made my heart clench and my stomach turn uneasily. Blood covered the once smooth, wondrous marble floors of the throne room. I saw the golden throne surrounded by five bodies; the five members of the council, charged with the task of guiding Lord Tao in the event he needed counseling. The noise stopped abruptly, all eyes going to me, and I saw Lord Tao with a knife to a young girls throat, who was shivering and staring at me with horror and fear in her dark, brown eyes._

" _Ru Xiang." Lord Tao spat viciously, as though my name were the most offensive curse word to pass his lips. I flinched as I saw the once benevolent ruler cut the girl's throat without a hint of mercy, the blood pouring down her front in a fountain of red. There was only malice on the man's face as he stepped over her body, pausing to wipe his dagger on her already stained dress, and I saw only madness in his eyes. Nothing was left of the man; there was no humanity in those eyes. "Are you here to save these worthless lives?"_

" _Dorgon." I said evenly, meeting his eyes with my own stormy gray. I lifted my sword up and prepared myself to fight; I needed to steel my resolve, for there was only one way for this to end._

* * *

"Is that why you left Ireland?" Scott asked, ripping me from my memory unceremoniously.

"No." I told him honestly. "Maybe one day I will tell you both stories."

"If you do want to talk about it, I'll be here to listen." Scott promised, his face filled with such sincerity.

"Thank you." I said, nodding my head and sitting up straighter in my seat as the prison transport van came into view; the spot they had moved it too was pretty far removed from where it had been, Scott had to get detailed directions from Stiles. As we exited the car, scott explained our encounter with Danny to them as fast as he could, not mentioning the part where he asked me out.

"Do you think he knows where it is?" Stiles asked when Scott finished, referring to Jackson.

"No." Scott replied, shaking his head. "If Jackson doesn't remember being the Kanima, he's not gonna remember stealing Danny's tablet."

"Jackson was naked when we found him." I pointed out, making Stiles gag a little.

"Thanks for reminding me." He said sarcastically

"I mean,, he did not have it on his person." I said, rolling my eyes at his dramatics.

"Why would he steal it if he doesn't even know what's on it?" Stiles asked rhetorically, catching on to my train of thought. "What if someone else took it?"

"Then someone else knows what he is." Allison said

"Uh." Scott said, thinking "Which could mean someone is protecting him."

"Like the bestiary says 'The kanima seeks a friend', right?" Allison said almost triumphantly

"Okay, so hold on." Stiles said, pacing back and forth as he thought and spoke. "So, somebody watches Jackson make a video of himself turning into the Kanima, and then just erases part of it so he wouldn't know? I mean, who would do that?"

"Someone who wanted to protect him?" I asked unsurely

"There's something else." Scott said, looking directly at Stiles. "You said the only thing you found online about the Kanima is that it goes after murderer's. What if that's actually true?"

"No, it can't be." Stiles dismissed instantly "It tried to kill all of us, remember? I don't know about you three, but I haven't murdered anyone lately."

I winced at his words and felt my stomach drop. Scott must have heard my heartbeat quicken because he threw me a cautious, worried look before he spoke again.

"But I - I don't think that it was actually trying to kill us." Scott said, looking at Allison. "Remember when we were at Isaac's the first time, it just went right by us, didn't it?"

"You're right." Allison agreed, nodding her head as it dawned on her. "It just ran off."

Scott looked back to Stiles. "And it didn't kill you at the mechanic's garage!"

"Well, yeah, but it tried to kill me and Derek at the pool." Stiles argued, and then pointed at me. "And Cian!"

"What if it was only trying to keep you in the pool?" Scott countered

"Why do I feel so violated all of a sudden?" Stiles asked, looking at me and dramatically shivering.

"Because there is something else going on and we do not know what it is." I said, contemplatively "What is going on with Jackson? Why is someone protecting him and who is it?"

"Know thy enemy." Allison muttered, and I looked at her in surprise. "Just something my grandfather said."

"Sun Tzu." I stated, shaking my head "Of course he quotes the Art of War."

"I got it!" Stiles suddenly exclaimed, as though he just had an epiphany. He continued with a deadpan look on his face when he saw all of us looking at him. "Kill Jackson. Problem solved."

"Stiles." I said sharply "Once you go down that road, there is no coming back."

"He risked his life for us." Scott added, looking at his best friend with an expectant look on his face. "Against Peter, you remember that?"

"Yes, but what did we just find out?" Stiles asked, clearly frustrated "He got the bite from Derek. It's funny how he just got exactly what he wanted by supposedly risking his life. It's funny."

"Yeah." Scott agreed, sighing tiredly "It doesn't mean he is not worth saving."

"It's always something with him."

"He doesn't know what he's doing." Scott reminded Stiles patiently

Stiles just scoffed "So what? You warned him he shouldn't get the bite."

"But he did. I didn't know what I was doing either!" Scott said fiercely "Remember when I almost killed you and Jackson? I had somebody to stop me. He has no one."

"That's his own fault." Stiles said bluntly, looking at all of us but lowering his eyes when he noticed my disappointed look. I wonder if he was remembering the conversation about his selflessness now as I was.

"It doesn't matter." Scott said with a finality to his tone, indicating the discussion was over as far as he was concerned. "If we can save him, we should try."

Stiles grumbled a little, but agreed that we are going to try to save him. Now the only thing we have to do is figure out how to do that while keeping him from killing anyone else.

"Allison and I can watch him tonight." Scott offered "We just both have to go home for a few hours first."

"I'll stay for now, you three go ahead." I said, waving them off casually in a shooing motion.

"Nah, I'll stay with you." Stiles said, before looking at me "If that's okay? I can get started on some of that school work. My dad will be out and about anyways."

"Sure." I agreed with a shrug

* * *

Stiles and I spent most of the time Allison and Scott were gone in silence, only occasionally talking to one another when Stiles would get too restless or had a question about the work he was doing. I meditated while he worked, listening to the sounds of the forest and the scratching of his pencil on paper. Every now and then I would open my eyes and watch him as he worked; he was constantly doing something. Chewing on a pen cap, bouncing his leg. His tongue poked out from behind his pink lips when he concentrated and his brows furrowed when he was deep in thought. I enjoyed how full of life and energy Stiles always was.

"When Scott and Allison get back, I think I'm going to check on Lydia." Stiles said, breaking the silence. "Do you want a ride home? It's on my way."

"Yes, please." I replied "Is everything okay with her?"

"Yeah. I guess." said Stiles, looking conflicted. "I told her one night I would be there for her. I got stuck in the pool, and I can't explain why, so she thinks I ditched her."

"Oh." I said, wincing sympathetically "That's a tough one."

"Yeah." Stiles agreed "I think I blew it."

"Blew it?" I asked, confused

"Messed up my chance to possibly date her." Stiles clarified, smiling like he normally does when I don't know a modern phrase or expression. "She hasn't forgiven me."

"Well, if she truly likes you, I am positive she will come around." I told him

"Maybe." Stiles said, shutting his book and turning to face me fully. "I've had a crush on her since like the third grade. She never even noticed me; hell, she didn't even know my name until Scott started dating Allison and made first line."

I did not say anything. I figured Stiles just needed someone to listen for awhile and take him seriously; so that is exactly what I did.

"I mean," He continued, laughing bitterly in a self-deprecating way "Allison had to basically blackmail her to go to formal with me, and even then she was thinking about Jackson the entire time. And went to find him! Now, she's mad at me for ditching her, the same thing she did to me at winter formal, when all she has ever done is ignore me! I tried to be there!"

Stiles stood up abruptly and began pacing, something I have noticed he only does when he his anxious or thinking, while he ranted. I followed his footsteps with my eyes and continued to listen to him as he talked about how frustrated he was.

"That just isn't fair!" Stiles exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air out of sheer frustration. "She doesn't know how important it was that I leave, and she doesn't know how I literally could not come back to talk with her! Yet, somehow, even after the way she's treated me for so many damn years, I am still the one apologizing! I can tell you so much about her, but I bet she couldn't even tell you what my favorite color is."

"What is it?" I asked him, causing Stiles to look at me with a startled expression, as though he had forgotten I was here or he was expecting me not to listen.

"What is what?" Stiles asked, bewildered

"Your favorite color, Stiles." I said with a small laugh

"Oh." Stiles said blankly, blinking at me before once again taking a seat next to me. "It's green. What's yours?"

"It doesn't matter." I told him dismissively, shrugging and patting him on the knee. "If she cannot see how great you are-"

"Then she doesn't deserve me and I should move on." Stiles said, interrupting me. "My dad says the same thing, but-"

"No." I said, pointedly looking at him while interrupting him. "If she does not notice, then one day someone will. I cannot tell you to move on because that is not how emotions work; I cannot tell you how to feel. Emotions are not just a fire you can put out with a bucket of water. What I do know is whatever you feel for Lydia, when someone who appreciates you, respects you, and loves you just as much as you do for them; it will blow whatever feelings you may have for Lydia out your mind completely. It will be like jumping out of one of those airplanes or coming up for fresh air after being underwater for too long."

Stiles took what I said and let it sink in, his eyes focused on the ground as he thought about what I said. Finally, he turned to me. "You really think so?"

"I know it." I told him confidently, waving my hand in the air in a general motion. "Stiles, I am four hundred and three years old. I promise when - not if, but when- it will make all of this have been worth it. Who knows? It may even be Lydia, just a few years down the road. For now, just remember that it may be stormy right now, Stiles, but it never rains forever. Just be patient and play in the rain while you wait for the sun."

Suddenly, Stiles yanked me into a hug, my head resting on his shoulder, buried next to his neck. He had an interesting smell; it was like the musk that most teenagers had, mixed with mint and something sweet. I hugged him tight, knowing sometimes people just needed to feel a strong embrace around them; I also know that hugging provides manual stimulation to the parasympathetic system, which restores balance to the nervous system.

"You're really good at giving advice." Stiles mumbled into my neck. "And listening."

"Both of which come from old age." I joked, pulling away from him slowly.

"I appreciate it. I'm also glad you feel comfortable enough to tell me how old you are, I know you said it was a personal thing." Stiles said, the tips of his ears burning red for some reason. "Just play in the rain."

Pretty soon, when it had just begun to get dark outside, Allison and Scott came to relieve us of guard duty. I told them both goodnight before hopping into the Jeep, and telling Stiles thank you and goodnight before I got out. I watched as he drove off, then headed into my house to cook dinner before I tried to finish the mural in my second bedroom. I was glad that for once, since I had gotten here, it seemed like we had things under control; no more killings, at least. Hopefully we can figure out what is going on before the next disaster strikes.


	5. Chapter 4: Srian

A/N: Thank you all for the continued support! I seriously appreciate it way more than you can imagine! Also, I trie to put a little bit of Derek in this as was requested, but the reason he isn't really around in the story is because during this time, he was so focused on training his pack and laying low to avoid the Argent's. I just don't think he really had time for anything else. Let me know if you have any thoughts or questions!

Chapter Four: Srian

" _If you bow at all,_

 _Bow low."_

I woke up very early in the morning the next day and, after my run and a quick breakfast, I started to paint a mural on the wall of my spare room upstairs. I worked for a few hours, lost in the motions of painting. I frowned when I saw that the sun had already risen,so I jogged to my bedroom and put on a pair of jeans and a thin cotton shirt. I got into my kitchen and frowned when I picked up my cell phone, noticing that not only did my first class begin in fifteen minutes but I had two missed calls from Scott and three from Stiles as well. I grabbed my messenger back from where it was laying in my chair, and walked out of the door with my cane in hand. After I locked the door, I dialed Stiles number.

"Finally!" Stiles said, annoyed

"Are you alright?" I asked, deciding to ignore his tone. I would make sure the sound was on and nearby in the future, I was not used to carrying a phone around all the time so I often forgot until I needed it.

"I'm fine." Stiles replied, and I heard Scott ask in the background who he was talking too. "It's Cian."

I heard Scott say something but I could not make out what it was. I was walking as fast as I could with my limp in the direction of the school, waiting patiently for Stiles to start speaking again. I heard Stiles tell Scott he was not going to ask why I called Stiles first, and I smiled a little at that.

"So you missed a lot." Stiles said, I could picture the exasperated look on his face.

"Such as?" I asked unsurely

"Cliff notes version - that means long story short, by the way." I grinned at the fact that he knew I was going to ask what cliff notes meant and pre-emptively explained it. The grin quickly slid off my face as he continued talking though. "Jackson escaped and got his lawyer dad to put a restraining order on us. So, we can't go within fifty feet of him or we get arrested."

"Do I need to go to the station or anything?" I asked, not sure how one goes about dealing with getting whatever a restraining order was. "Is it like a document? Or verbal?"

"Actually, it didn't include you or Allison. Which is some serious discrimination, by the way." said Stiles, making me roll my eyes. "Are you coming to school?"

"Yes, my estimated time of arrival should be about ten minutes." I told him

"Okay. Good. Allison got Lydia to translate some of the bestiary."

"Wait. Lydia knows Archaic Latin?" I asked, whistling low appreciatively. "Well, I am impressed."

"The point is!" Stiles continued "Ms. Morrell got it wrong. The Kanima doesn't seek a friend, it seeks a master. Which means-"

"Someone is controlling him, not protecting him." I finished "and keeping him clueless furthers their cause, that must be why they stole the video."

"Exactly. So get to school." Stiles demanded

"Stiles, I walk with a limp. I am going as fast as I can." I responded

"That limp is fake!" Stiles exclaimed, and I heard Scott telling him to be quiet in the background. "Why do you fake that, by the way?"

"Helps me maintain a normal, human speed. It's also somewhere to keep a sword with easy access." I replied, before looking around to see if anyone was around. There was a patch of woods I could short cut through, and go a little faster at my normal speed. "I'll be there in five."

"Okay. See you soon."

"So much for peace and quiet." I muttered, before entering the woods and running at a breakneck speed. I dodged trunks and foliage, attempting to not get any stains on my clothes. I cannot believe I missed so much in just a few hours. I finally made it out of the woods, and it was a minute walk to the school. I went to my first period, and waited as patiently as possible, before I got a text from Stiles telling me to go to the library after class. As soon as the bell ended, I walked out of the door and turned to walk towards the library.

Scott and Stiles were there first, ironically in the mythology section, and they told me they were grounded and how their parents freaked while we waited on Allison. I heard Allison's footsteps in the opposite aisle, and Scott eagerly went up the the hole as her face came into view.

"This is everything Lydia could translate." Allison said, handing Scott some papers through the gap in the bookshelf. "Trust me. She was very confused."

Scott smiled sympathetically at his girlfriend for having to deal with all of this and lying to her best friend. "What did you tell her?"

Allison chuckled "That we were all apart of an online gaming community that battles mythical creatures."

Scott giggled a little at the lie and Stiles shot the couple an affronted look before informing them that he was apart of an online community that did exactly that. Allison face switched from amused to one of surprise.

"O-oh. Great." She said unconvincingly with a tentative smile

"Does it say how to find out who is controlling him?" I asked, to break the awkward silence that followed.

"No." Allison said, shaking her head "Stiles was right about the murders though."

"Yes!" Stiles exclaimed victoriously. I shot him a bemused expression and raised my hand towards him. He looked at me for a minute before he understood and high fived me like I saw people do on the television.

"It calls the Kanima a weapon of vengeance." Allison said, glancing around to make sure no one was around. "There's a story about this South American priest who uses the Kanima to execute murdered in his village."

"All right! See? So maybe it isn't all that bad." Stiles said optimistically

"Until the bond grew strong enough that it killed whoever he wanted it to." Allison finished

"All bad." Stiles said, defeated "All very, very bad."

"Why is it always the priests?" I asked rhetorically

"Here's the thing though." Allison said "The Kanima is actually supposed to be a werewolf, but it can't be-"

"Until it resolves that in it's past which manifested it." Scott finished for her, reading from the papers in his hand Allison had given him.

"Okay, if that means Jackson could use a few thousand hours of therapy, I could've told you that myself." Stiles said sarcastically

"What if-" Allison started with a contemplating look "it has something to do with his parents? His real parents."

"Does anyone know what actually happened to them?" Scott asked

"Lydia might." Stiles mused

"What if she does not know anything?" I asked

"Well, he doesn't have a restraining order against me." Allison said "So- I'll talk to him myself."

"Okay." Scott said, looking like he wanted to argue but was suppressing the urge. "What do I do?"

"You have a makeup exam, remember?" Allison reminded him gently, eyes pleading "Promise me?"

"If he does anything, you run the other way."

"I can take care of myself." Allison said defiantly

"Allison, if you get hurt while I'm busy with some stupid test, someone is going to need to take care of me." Scott said, pleading with his girlfriend. "If he does anything-"

"Like what?" Allison interrupted

"Anything - weird or bizarre." Scott said earnestly "Anything."

"Anything evil!" Stiles exclaimed, pushing his head through the gap that the couple were talking through to emphasize his point. Allison shoved his face back through at the exact same time I grabbed his shirt and pulled him back, rolling my eyes. "Ah-ow!"

I walked out of the aisle with Stiles in tow, giving the young pair a moment to say a more proper good-bye in private. As soon as we left the library, Stiles informed me he was going to hunt Lydia down to ask about Jackson's parents. I watched Stiles walk down the hall before sliding down to the ground, my back against the lockers, and pulling my sketch pad out of my messenger bag to draw and pass the time.

I had been sitting there for a little over an hour when I heard Scott growl, followed by the sound of breaking glass. I hurriedly shoved my things into my bag before making my way to where all the noise was coming from.

I turned the corner and saw a crowd of people standing around. I moved forward, pushing my way to the front, until I came to stand next to Stiles. I saw Jackson and Scott grappling on the floor, Allison behind them with her hand over her mouth and wide eyes. Stiles ran forward to try and grab Scott off of Jackson, while Erica restrained Jackson herself.

"Scott, Scott." Stiles was saying "Scott! Guys!"

"What the hell is going on?" Mr. Harris, our Chemistry teacher, asked, walking up to see Scott and Jackson. "Hey! Enough! Enough! What do you think you are doing? Jackson! Calm down. Mr. McCall, you wanna explain yourself?"

Nobody said anything while Mr. Harris angrily looked over the two boys, Allison, Stiles and I. I started inching away from the crowd, trying to be unnoticed, just as a dark haired boy gave something to Scott, telling him that he had dropped it.

"Where do you think you are going, Mr. Hyland?" I froze, grimacing at being caught. Mr. Harris pointed at Scott first, and then Jackson. "You and you- Actually, all of you. Detention. Three O'clock."

I groaned but did not object when Mr. Harris glared at me, daring me to say something. I would not give him the satisfaction. Stiles grabbed my arm and we both walked down the hall, pausing to wait for Allison and Scott to catch up.

"What the hell happened?" I asked, irritated about the detention. Unlike Scott, I did not even get the satisfaction of punching Jackson in the face for my trouble. "I thought Allison was going to talk to him, so how did that end with you two duking it out in the locker room?"

Stiles gave me a weird look. "Duking it out?"

"I heard it in a movie last night." I said absentmindedly, looking at Scott expectantly.

The werewolf looked only slightly guilty, and I could hear his heart racing out of anger. Allison laid a hand on his arm and he calmed down a little, taking a deep breath. "I walked in because I could hear Allison's heart beating like crazy. Jackson was pulling up his pants, so I freaked out."

"Are you alright?" My eyes softened as I turned to look at Allison, who tilted her head, jaw clenched, before nodding.

"He didn't hurt me." Allison said "It was like he was in a trance. Suddenly, he was himself again. It was really weird."

"Really weird is a recurring theme in our lives." Stiles muttered

"I have to go before Gerard or my mom see us." Allison said apologetically, touching Scott on the arm on more time before she walked down the hallway and turned the corner. Before our last class of the day, Stiles filled us in on how Erica had approached him and told him Jackson's biological parents were dead, buried in the cemetery.

"How does she know?" I asked

"She didn't say."

"I don't trust her." I said, thinking. Why would she suddenly be trying to help us? Derek made it clear he wanted to kill the Kanima. No way the young beta was going against her Alpha's wishes, which meant Derek had told her to help us. Why would he do that? Maybe he needs our help for something?

"We need to find out what she knows." Scott said, looking at me. "I don't like it either, but if she knows something, maybe we can use it to save Jackson."

"Well, we can always ask her in detention." Stiles said bitterly "They better not tell my dad we violated the restraining order."

I walked away from the pair, going towards my English class, still thinking on Derek. We were reading the Crucible in class, which I had read already, so I patiently waited for the class to end so I could meet the others outside of Mr. Harris' office. As soon as the bell rang, I gathered my belongings and made my way to the chemistry classroom. Everyone else had already gathered outside the door, and Mr. Harris told us to follow him. We trudged along the locker lined hallways, Mr. Harris sneering at us the entire time, until finally he brought us to the library. He held the door open wide as we all filed into the room.

"Oh, uh- we can't be in detention together." Jackson said haughtily, looking at Stiles and Scott. "I have a restraining order against these tools."

"All of these tools?" Harris asked, gesturing at Erica, the dark-haired boy from earlier, Allison, Scott, Stiles and I.

"No, just us tools." Stiles said snarkily, indicating himself and Scott.

"Fine." Harris said, glaring at Stiles. I made a mental note to ask Stiles about the hostility between himself and our Chemistry teacher later. The teacher pointed to a table that was the farthest from the one the rest of us were sitting at, besides Erica. I sighed to myself, pulling out a book to read and pass the time.

"Cian." I heard Stiles mutter under his breath, causing me to look over at him. He was gesturing for me to come over. When I looked at Harris and shrugged, he rolled his eyes and gestured more. I sighed, before thinking of an idea.

"Mr. Harris?" I asked

"What, Mr. Hyland?" Harris responded tiredly

"I need to move." I said, faking a small cough. "This tools" I gestured at Jackson "perfume is making me sick."

"It's Tom Ford." Jackson sneered "and it's Cologne."

"It is disgusting." I replied, looking towards the teacher once more. "Mr. Harris?"

"Fine." Mr. Harris said, exasperated "Just move."

I got up and went over to Stiles and Scott, who both had grinned widely when I said that Jackson was wearing perfume. Stiles held out his fist towards me with an expectant look on his face as soon as I took a seat, and I gave him a confused look in return.

"It's a fist bump." Stiles said, rolling his eyes. "You put your hand into a fist and we bump them together."

Confused, I formed a fist and punched his. He made a pained noise, making me frown at how much strength I had accidentally used but Scott just snickered at his friend's discomfort.

"We'll work on it." Stiles said lowly, shaking his sore hand out. I threw him an apologetic look his way. I honestly had not meant to hit him so hard. Why would two people bump fists in the first place? I filed the question away for later when I heard Stiles continue to speak in a low voice. "What if it's Matt? I mean, it all comes back to the video, right?"

"Danny said Matt was the one who found the two hours of missing footage." Scott said

"Exactly!" Stiles exclaimed quietly, gesturing "He's trying to throw suspicion off of himself."

"So he makes Jackson kill Isaac's dad, one of the Argent's hunters, and the mechanic working on your Jeep?" I asked

"Yes!"

"Why?" Scott asked doubtfully

"Because.." Stiles said, obviously thinking "He's Evil!"

"You just don't like him." Scott said

"The guy bugs me. I don't know what it is." Stiles said, and all of us looked over to the table Matt - the dark haired boy - was occupying, only to see him eating a packet of crisps casually. "Just look at his face."

"Yes, the way he eats those crisps is definitely malevolent." I said sarcastically, and Stiles turned to lightly glare at me.

"Those are called chips. And I'm telling you, he's evil." Stiles responded indignantly

"Any other theories?" Scott asked, ignoring our bickering

Stiles did not say anything because Jackson had stood up, holding his head, and told Harris that he had to go to the restroom. The three of us all looked at eachother disbelievingly.

"Are you alright?" Harris asked, looking uncharacteristically concerned. "You don't look so good."

"I just need some water." Jackson said, walking out of the doors. Mr. Harris looked at all of us, told us that no one was to leave their seat, and followed after Jackson. As soon as the door closed, Stiles and Scott jumped out of their seats to go to Erica, asking about Jackson's parents.

"Talk." Scott said just as I walked up to the table and took a seat.

"It was a car accident. My dad was the insurance investigator, and everytime he sees Jackson drive by in his Porsche,, me makes some comment about the huge settlement he'll be getting when he's eighteen." Erica explained

"So not only is Jackson rich now, but he's getting even more rich at eighteen?" Stiles asked with a disgusted look on his face. "There is something so deeply wrong with that."

"You know what?" Erica said, pulling her laptop out of her backpack. "I could try to find the insurance report on my dad's inbox. He keeps everything."

The loudspeaker crackled to life at that exact moment and a female voice called for Scott to go to the principal's office. Scott's eyes widened, looking at us with a panicked expression on his face.

"What do I do?" Scott asked, looking between Stiles and I.

"Show no fear?" I said questioningly, shrugging my shoulders helplessly.

"Right." Scott nodded, reassuring himself before going out the door and making his way towards the office.

"Found it." Erica said triumphantly, gesturing to her laptop. Stiles craned his neck to look, and I absentmindedly admired the constellation of moles on his skin. I watched as his tongue poked out of his mouth, wetting his lips and his eyes darted across the screen as he read the report. My attention snapped back to the situation at hand as he called for us to look at the dates on the report. They arrived dead at the hospital on June fourteenth. I frowned to myself, not seeing the relevance, and Stiles must have seen the confused look on my face because he leaned closer to me as he spoke.

"Jackson's birthday is on June fifteenth." He informed me and my eyes widened in horror at what he was implicating. He was in his dead mother's womb hours before he was born. At that moment, Mr. Harris walked back in - not commenting on Stiles and I changing seat - before he began to pack up his belongings. We all got up, prepared to leave, freezing as Mr. Harris let out a cold chuckle.

"Oh, no." Harris said, a slightly sadistic look of joy on his face. "I'm sorry. Yes, I'm leaving, but none of you are. You may go when you're done with the reshelving." He gestured towards three carts, overflowing with books, before striding towards the door with a pleased smirk on his face. "Enjoy the rest of your evening."

I glared a hole into the back of his skull until the door swung shut behind him. Complaining, we all got started shelving books. Allison joined Stiles and I; As soon as Scott returned from the office, shaking his head and mumbling about pencils under his breath, we told the other two what was in the report.

"What does that mean?" Allison asked as Stiles finished, putting a book from the cart onto the proper shelf as she spoke.

"It means he was born after his mom died." Stiles told her, talking quickly. "By c-section. They had to cut him out of her dead body."

I shivered at the thought, and Allison had the same horrified look on her face that I had earlier.

"So, was it an accident, or not?" She asked, still putting books up.

"The word all over the report is inconclusive." Stiles said

"Then his parents could have been murdered?" Scott wondered out loud

"That could fall in line with the myth." I pointed out, Stiles nodding his head in agreement.

"It seeks out and kills murderers." Stiles quoted forebodingly

"But for Jackson?" Allison mused "Or the person controlling him?"

We all paused for a moment, considering her words, and then Scott was moving forward to leave the aisle we were all standing in. Stiles grabbed his shoulder with a questioning look, wondering what his best friend was doing.

"We have to talk to him." Scott said adamantly "We have to tell him."

"He's not going to list-" Allison started, but was interrupted by a loud thud. All of a sudden, it was as though the ceiling were caving in. The lights were flashing and I vaguely saw a shape blurring above our heads. I dove at Stiles, pulling him out of the way as one of the lights fell from above, landing on top of him as shattered glass rained down around us. Stiles brown, honey eyes were wide, looking into my gray orbs, back to the glass, before they finally settled on me. I heard his heartbeat increase suddenly, looking at our proximity, and I hurriedly rolled off of his surprisingly firm body before I stood up, offering him my hand. He took it, using it to pull himself off of the ground, and we both stood there awkwardly for a moment.

"Erica!" We heard Scott shout, and we both rushed over to the next aisle, where the blonde werewolf was convulsing on the ground.

"Whoa, hey, hey, hey!" Stiles said, panicked "I think she's having a seizure."

"Turn her on her side." I advised calmly, grabbing her legs and helping them turn the girl. I held her there just in case she vomited. Stiles supported her, hands on her back, while she shook uncontrollably.

"We need to get her to a hospital." Stiles decided, looking at me.

"Derek." Erica said shakily, her body still trembling "Only to Derek."

"Scott!" Stiles yelled fearfully, and the teen wolf was by his side a minute later, evaluating the situation with his eyes.

"Okay, when we get her to the hospital-" Scott started to say, only for Erica to cut in.

"Derek. To Derek."

Erica's eyes were pleading and fearful, her body trembling underneath my hands. Scott went to check on Allison and Matt, and I heard them debating about if Scott should stay or go. Finally, Scott came over to us and picked Erica up into his arms delicately, and Stiles scrambled after him. I threw one last look at the board that Jackson had written an ominous message on before heading after the other two.

The ride to Derek's was tense and silent. Stiles was driving well over the speed limit, glancing in his rearview mirror at Erica periodically and muttering to himself. When we finally arrived at Derek's hideout, the Alpha came out of some cart and I saw a look of concern pass over his face when he noticed his beta in Scott's arms. Derek gingerly took Erica from Scott, and laid her down on the floor of the cart he had exited carefully.

"Is she going to die?" Stiles asked, his heart beating wildly in his chest while he awaited Derek's answer.

"She might. Which is why this is going to hurt." Derek replied bluntly, putting both of his hands on Erica's arm before moving them forcefully, snapping the appendage easily with his supernatural strength.

"You broke her arm!" Stiles accused him angrily

"It'll trigger the healing process." Derek aid tersely, worry on his face. "I still have to get the venom out. This is where it's really going to hurt."

Derek extended his claws and punctured Erica's arm, the scream she let our was deafening. I barely flinched, watching as he twisted his claws into her arm to get as much of the tainted blood out as possible. Erica whimpered in pain throughout the entire process, but slowly she stopped shaking and Derek removed his blood covered hands from her arm. Erica relaxed slightly, opening her eyes and looking at Stiles dazedly. "Stiles. You make a good Batman."

Confused at the reference, I watched as Erica closed her eyes and fell asleep, letting her head fall gently to the ground. I grasped Stiles shoulder, squeezing reassuringly, and he sighed, getting off of his knees. We both watched, standing silently, as Derek and Scott spoke to one another. They had decided to team up and take on the Kanima together. I studied Derek as he agreed to do things Scott's way, and knew deep down that there was no way he was going to listen. He would try to kill Jackson. People like Derek did not just do a complete turnaround in opinion like that, and they definitely did not let themselves be told what to do by a sixteen year old.

"Come on." Stiles said, gesturing to the door leading to the exit where his Jeep was parked. "Do you want a ride home?"

"I'll catch up." I told him, noticing the perplexed look he gave me I waved him off. "I'll be right there."

"Okay." Stiles said unsurely, and left with Scott.

Derek eyed me as I leaned against the wall evaluating him. We were both silent, sizing the other up, and finally I walked towards him slowly. He cocked his eyebrow at me, a silent question asking why I had stayed behind, and I hardened my eyes slightly.

"You do not want to save him. You want to kill him." I said, not asked him.

"It's the safer option." Derek replied, his green eyes still watching me.

"If they get hurt because of this, I will kill you." I told him warningly, watching his eyes narrow as he took me in. Derek walked up to me so we were only a few inches apart, me staring up at him and refusing to break eye contact, and I took in his musky, earthy smell.

"What makes you think you can?" He asked me tauntingly, eyes flickering downwards and back up to meet my own.

"Experience." I replied levelly, and his eyes turned from mocking to steel after I said that.

"I guess we'll see." Derek said, nostrils flaring and eyes flashing red in response to my challenge.

"I hope we do not have too." I told him honestly, backing away a little. "I will be watching though."

Derek remained silent, and I could feel his eyes on me the entire time as I walked away. Normally, I would not turn my back on a werewolf, but I knew he would not dare to attack me. I met up with Stiles and Scott, who both gave me questioning looks that I studiously ignored, before we all got into the jeep. Stiles dropped me off first this time, and I spent the rest of the night painting the mural I had started in my guest bedroom. The only other thing in the room was a huge cabinet opposite of the wall I was painting, and it remained closed at all times. There was nothing in there but bad memories. Memories I could not quite let go of yet, it would seem.


	6. Chapter 6: Machnamh

**A/N: Okay, so it has been over a month - and I ended this short chapter prematurely. I am so stuck right now it is not even funny: You guys, it seriously feels like my head is the grave that Peter Hale is trying to crawl his creepy ass out of, that is how dead my creativity has been. I'm working through it. I will persist. I have already started working on the next chapter, I have a couple of people helping with my 'problem areas' and I should be on track soon. I can do this. I will do this. Thanks for all the support, and I hope you enjoy!**

Chapter Six: Machnamh

" _The talented hawk hides its claws."_

* _Ring Ring*_

I frowned and hit the button on the remote controller that muted the television as I listened to the phone ring. Scott's name was flashing on the screen, so I picked up the device and put it to my ear.

"Hello?" I answered

"Hey." Scott said "Are you free right now?"

"Yes. How may I assist?"

"Derek is meeting me at Deaton's, I was wondering if you wanted to come with." Scott offered. I could hear light music and an engine in the background. He was driving.

"It would be a pleasure, I will leave in five minutes." I replied, already grabbing my boots from their place by the door. I still didn't trust the newly turned Alpha, so there was not a chance in hell I was going to not come to a meeting as back up for Scott.

"I was actually going to come and get you. I'm on my way so it'll be two minutes." Scott said

"I will be ready."

The line went dead and I ran upstairs so quickly I blurred, changing into a white shirt and slipping on my grey jacket. I kept the black, form fitting jeans I had on with my combat boots. I brushed my teeth quickly and by the time I was finished I heard Scott knocking on my front door. I flew down the stairs and opened the door to reveal Scott, who smiled as he greeted me and asked if he could come in.

"Please." I said, gesturing him inside and moving so that he could walk into the house. He took it in quietly, looking around at my paintings and some of the weapons lining the walls. I had garnered quite a collection over the years, and they were all displayed on the walls of my house.

"Your house is nice." Scott said complimenting, looking over my living room. My couch, coffee table. the television Stiles set up, and the stand it sat on were the only pieces of furniture in the room. The walls were painted a light grey, and there was a mace, a broadsword, and my butterfly knives were all on the wall along with two paintings I had done years ago. "A lot of weapons, huh?"

"Thank you. Some of them I have made, some of them purchased, and some are from fallen enemies." I told him, observing him as I spoke.

"Really?" Scott turned to me, surprised

"I am a warrior." I reminded him

"I know. I guess I just never thought about it. Are all of your people soldiers?" Scott asked, curiosity gleaming in his dark brown eyes.

"We have many warriors, but we have musicians, healers, builders, farmers." I said wistfully, smiling softly as I thought of rolling green hills, the lilting tunes of flutes made of rowan wood, and the sunset over stars that were familiar to me.

"A whole civilization." Scott said, awed "How do you guys stay hidden?"

"We live in the in between." I told him. "I will explain it some time."

"That's what you always say!" Scott complained good naturedly

"Yes, well. Stop getting involved in situations and we will have enough time to discuss such things." I teased back, before looking at the watch on my wrist. "Should we not be going now?"

"Yeah. You're right." Scott said, sobering up at the reminder. "Let's get going."

We walked together outside and climbed into his mother's car, who was most likely at work. We did not talk much during the drive, and it was only when we were a few moments away from the veterinary clinic that I realised something.

"Are you not grounded from using the vehicle?" I asked him, remembering our conversation from a few days ago. Scott winced as soon as I said it, a guilty look coming over his face.

"Uh.. I might've taken my keys temporarily and made a copy so I could borrow the car while she was at work." Scott told me bashfully

"You are awful." I told him, flashing my teeth.

"Yeah, yeah." Scott responded, rolling his eyes and turning up the music. We both nodded our heads to the music until we finally pulled up outside of the clinic. I saw Isaac and Derek waiting outside, both in leather jackets and jeans. Scott and I exchanged a look before getting out of the car and walking over to where they were standing outside.

"What is he doing here?" Scott said, eyeing Isaac

"I need him." Derek replied stoically

"I don't trust him." Scott replied almost instantly, getting the keys out of his pocket to open the clinic.

"Yeah, well, he doesn't trust you either." Isaac responded in a drawl, making me raise an eyebrow.

"Yeah, and you know what? Derek really doesn't care." Derek said, rolling his eyes "Where is the vet? Is he going to help us?"

"That depends." Deaton said, coming in from the back room to the front office where we were all standing. "Your friend, Jackson. Are we planning to kill him or save him?"

"Save him." Scott and I said at the same time that Derek said kill him. I glared at Derek and Scott gave him a pleading look, before repeating himself. "Save him."

I walked to the back room and sat on one of the counters, ignoring the look Deaton gave me. The others gathered around the examination table as Deaton pulled out glass bottles with herbs inside of them. Isaac reached out to one of the jars and Derek growled warningly at him.

"Watch what you touch." Derek chided, making Isaac have a thoroughly scolded look on his face. I snorted in amusement at the interaction; it was like watching a kid with his parent.

"So what are you?" Isaac asked casually, looking at all of the jars. "Some kind of witch?"

"I'm a veterinarian." Deaton replied firmly "Unfortunately, I don't see anything that's going to be an effective defense against a paralytic toxin."

"Don't need one." I said breezily, grinning at Scott's face when I said it.

"We're open to suggestions." Derek told Deaton impatiently.

"What about an effective offense?" Isaac asked

"We already tried. I nearly took its head off, Argent put a full clip in it, and the Sidhe sliced it a few times. It's just gets back up." Derek reminded him.

"Has it shown any weaknesses?" Deaton asked curiously

"It can't swim." I said, thinking of the night of the pool.

"Well, does that apply to Jackson as well?" Deaton asked

"No, He's captain of the swim team." Scott said

"Essentially, you're trying to capture two people - a puppet, and a puppeteer." Deaton said, putting two circles around an emblem to emphasize his point, surrounding it in mountain ash. "One killed the husband, but the other had to kill the wife. Do we know why?"

"I don't think Jackson could/" Scott said slowly, thinking it over. "His mother died pregnant, too and she was maybe murdered. I don't think he could let the same thing happen to someone else."

"What if it's the rules?" Isaac said "The Kanima only kills murderers; if the mother died, the baby dies too, so he couldn't kill the mom while the baby was inside her."

"Does that mean you father was a murderer too?" Scott asked, an almost challenging look in his eyes.

"Wouldn't surprise me if he was." Isaac deadpanned, shrugging and trying to be nonchalant. I could see the dark look in his eye at the thought though. Scott looked instantly guilty at bringing up the boy's father, making me wonder what he knew about the other beta's home life prior to his father being murdered.

"Hold on. The book says they are bonded, right?" Deaton said, holding an emblem up and beginning to draw a circle of mountain ash around it before starting another circle to emphasize his point. "What if what affects the Kanima, also affects its master?"

"Meaning what?" Isaac asked, eyebrows raised

"We can catch them both." I said, a slow smile starting to grown on my face. "Brilliant."

* * *

"We just need to find a way to get these tickets." I heard Scott say to Stiles as they walked towards the front of the school, where I was leaning casually against the handrails of the stairs leading up to the blue metal double doors.

"Maybe somebody we know has a pair?" Stiles mused, voice filled with frustration. "Oh, and for the record, I still think Matt is evil."

"Stiles." Scott sighed, rolling his eyes. "Focus."

"You haven't had any luck locating tickets?" I asked as they climbed the stairs, moving to walk through the doors with my teenage friends.

"They stopped selling." Stiles explained

"You should hurry." I advised "We need everyone there."

"Yeah, well, I don't see you with a plan!" Stiles pointed out, causing me to smirk back at him as I parted ways to go to my locker.

"I already have a ticket." I called back over my shoulder, imagining their dumbfounded faces and grinning to myself. Danny had asked if I wanted to buy his extra ticket after I mentioned I was looking for one when I saw him earlier this morning, and after making sure he didn't mind, I accepted.

Class was as boring as usual, I took tedious notes anyway though to avoid suspicion and just to occupy my hands while my mind wandered. I sincerely hoped whatever plan Deaton and Scott had in mind would work, we were going to go to the clinic after school to figure out the fine points. Hopefully those two would find tickets in time as well, although knowing how resourceful they could be, I did not doubt they would. Snorting quietly to myself, I wondered if it was resourcefulness or pure, dumb luck that helped them out in these situations? It was while I was walking to lunch that I heard the most interesting rumors about Isaac beating up two kids in the locker room because they had both slept with his sister, so as soon as I sat down at the lunch table Stiles and Scott were occupying, I casually asked if they had seen it; Usually, I was not one prone to gossip but that was how slow of a day it was.

"Wha-?" Scott said, his tanned face scrunching up in confusion while Stiles choked on his fizzy drink.

"Isaac doesn't even have a sister!" Stiles exclaimed, looking incredulously around the cafeteria, as though the people responsible for the blatant hyperbole were going to walk up to him.

"So it isn't true?" I asked, mildly disappointed

"Well.." Scott said, a guilty expression on his face "He did throw these guys around."

"Why?" I asked, leaning forward with an interested look on my face. I wasn't proud of it but like I said; anything to break up the monotony.

"To get us these!" Stiles said, triumphantly waving two of the tickets to the party tonight before stashing them back in his bag.

For a moment, I wondered if I should say something about the use of force to get the tickets but it was for the greater good, right? Shrugging internally, I pulled out my book and continued to eat and read in general silence while Scott shot furtive looks at Allison and Stiles did the same with Lydia. The two boys were hopeless, it was a miracle they got anything done.

When the last class of the day finally let out, I rose out of my seat and met up with the two at Stiles' Jeep, ready to go over the battle plan. Sometimes I wish I was the kind of person who could just not give a damn about anything so that I could go home, curl up on my couch, and just read the Odyssey for the one hundreth time; While the idea tempted me more than I would like to admit, I knew I wouldn't leave either of my new friends to deal with this on their own.

I sat in the backseat and wondered why I was doing all of this; the last time I stuck my neck out for a 'good cause', I was exiled. After leaving my home, I instantly jump into another situation where I am a piece on a chessboard - was this going to be my entire life, as long as it may be? Was I always going to be fighting, constantly struggling to stay above the water like that night in the pool when all I wanted to do was let go? I had not felt so world weary in a long time, but with my exile, it seemed as though all I had left was to make friends and watch them die. A year to them was but a moment for me, at least when things were not as chaotic as they were now; so was it truly worth getting attached only to watch them die, either from old age or a undeserved earlier death? Suddenly, I was not so sure. I was broken out of my rather morbid thoughts by our arrival at the clinic. As we walked into the back office, Deaton was waiting for us and it was their that Stiles learned how much of this plan was relying on him as the only human in the process. From what Scott said, Allison had a date so it was only us and Derek's pack of misfits tonight. I suspected Scott may not have even mentioned it to her though, in an attempt to keep her out of harm's way, so I had not brought it up to her at all.

I studied Stiles face, eyes widening anxiously when he found out - he was second guessing himself. I made a mental note to reassure him later, we had to make sure that this went off without a hitch tonight. The Kanima's body count was already too high and if we could, we had to prevent more blood from being spilt. We were all getting frustrated with the lack of progress, so we seriously needed a win, if only for a morale boost to keep fighting the good fight. I may have been projecting because of my own insecure thoughts on the ride over, but it seemed as though even Scott's normally blazing determination was somewhat dimmed.

After agreeing Stiles would pick us up for the rave, I watched the two drive off and began the walk home. I needed the time to clear my head, so humming softly to myself, I made my way home at a leisurely pace. I think I was just homesick and frustrated at our lack of progress with the Kanima situation and the Argents. It seemed like a balancing act, and adding that onto the cultural shock, I figured I just needed to organize and compartmentalize my emotions so I did not feel quite so overwhelmed. I only had a couple of hours until Stiles and Scott were going to pick me up, so when I got home I went sat and went through a couple of easy stretching exercises to relax myself, controlling my breathing. If I was going to be of any use tonight, I needed to be able to focus; I needed to be as in control of myself as I was in my breathing in this moment.

 _Breathe. Hold. Release._

 _Breathe. Hold. Release._

Everything was going to be fine, we were all going to be fine.

 _Breathe. Hold. Release._

 _Breathe. Hold. Release._

 **A/N: HELP: Usually I don't do two Author Notes, but it would be a big help if I could get a third-party perspective - so please, any one of you wonderful people reading this out there in the big wide net! I would love if I could hear from you guys what you think dominant aspects of Cian's personality are, in descriptor words (i.e Loyal, Brash, etc..). Also, if anyone has any ideas, I'm up for anything right now - I'll either use it, twist it, or discard it but I'd love to hear it.**

 **Review or message me please!**

 **~Rache**


	7. Chapter 7: Comhlachtai

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to the-awesome-bee, who has been one of my biggest supporters for all of my stories and who truly helped me out with this chapter. Thank you truly, my wonderful sounding board; I will most likely need you many more times before this is over! Without another word, please enjoy and review!**

Chapter Seven: Comhlachtaí

 _You'll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind._

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why?" Stiles responded to Scott, seemingly breaking out of whatever had been occupying his thoughts on the way from my house to the rave.

"You just didn't say anything on the way over here." Scott said tentatively, throwing his friend a worried look.

"No, I'm fine. Just grab the other bag." Stiles said, shrugging off Scott's worry and gesturing to the other bag of mountain ash as he lifted one up onto his shoulder.

"I can't." Scott said apologetically, giving his friend a sheepish look. "Remember? Deaton said you have to do it alone."

"Okay, this plan is really starting to suck." said Stiles heatedly

Scott looked as though he wanted to say something until he got a weird look in his eye and sniffed the air before his brown orbs widened in panic. "No, not here. Not now."

"What?" Stiles asked, glancing at me and then at his friend's retreating back as he ran away from us. "Scott! What am I supposed to - plan officially sucks."

"You can do this Stiles." I told him, giving him an encouraging smile. "You just need to believe."

"Believe this freaking magic fairy dust is going to keep a scaley killer lizard trapped?" Stiles scoffed, shaking his head. It was strange for the normally optimistic boy to look so downtrodden, so defeated.

"Believe in yourself, Stiles." I told him, feeling my phone begin to vibrate. He flicked his eyes, which were the color of honey-suckles in the light of the alley we had parked in, up to meet mine before looking at the pocket of my gray jeans where my phone was. "We believe in you. You can do this."

"I can do this." Stiles repeated, clenching his jaw in a determined way; determined to play his part, determined to not let us down. I gave him one last nod before I picked up my phone, holding it to my ear.

"Yes?" I answered

"The Argents are here." Scott almost shouted over the hypnotic music in the background.

"Fuck." I swore, causing Stiles to look at me sharply; He had never heard me swear before, I realised, but I had never been so blind-sided. How the hell had they known? "What do you need me to do?"

"Can you buy us some time?" Scott asked

"How long do you need?" I replied, nodding reassuringly at Stiles before starting to walk down the Alley.

"As long as you can give me." was the grim reply, and with that I shut my phone with a decisive click.

"What's wrong?" Stiles called to me

"The Argent's are here." I replied, turning to face him and seeing his surprised look and newfound anxiety. I smiled wryly at him before continuing to head them off. "The plan is the same, Stiles. I'm handling it."

"Cian." He called, causing me to stop once more. "Be careful."

"You as well." I said, running down the alley as Stiles got started on making the circle. It was as I turned the corner that I saw Gerard with a couple of his hunter friends with him, walking towards a door on the side of the building.

"I hope you have your ticket." I said, making the two hunters jump and Gerard to tense, his dark, beady eyes watching me as I stepped out from the shadow of the building. I smirked at him as I slowly made my way forward, cautious but confident, and stopped a few feet from where they stood. I clicked my tongue disapprovingly, shaking my head. "What would the parents think of the High school principal skulking in the shadows of a rave?"

"I guess it's a good thing you don't have any, isn't it, Mr. Hyland?" Gerard's gravely voice replied, a sneer on his face. That insult might have even stung if I both of them were actually dead like I led him to believe. Instead, I smiled politely in return; putting both my hands on my cane and spreading my legs evenly, casually standing between them and the door.

"Come now, you can do better than that." I replied mockingly

"You would do well to find yourself somewhere else." Gerard advised me, a dark look coming across his face for a moment. "We wouldn't want anything happening to you, out here all alone."

"Who said I was alone?" I asked curiously, cocking my head to the side. As if to answer my rhetorical question, the howls of werewolves and gunfire filled the crisp night air and the already tense hunters with Gerard got twitchy.

"Running with wolves, I see." Gerard observed, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Do I look as though I'm running?" was my cool response, tilting my chin up in defiance. "You aren't going to be going to the party tonight, Gentlemen. So leave."

Gerard nodded once, and on unspoken command, one of the hunters rushed me, swinging a fist out towards hims. I neatly side-stepped him, sticking a foot out to make him trip and knocking the flat of his head hard enough to leave a big bruise with my cane. I raised an eyebrow at Gerard, and the other hunter pulled out some sort of shock stick; the thing was teeming with electricity, I could see the mesmerizing volts of blue going from the tip to an area right before the grip almost hypnotically. I nimbly evaded the few swings the man made, containing my laughter at how clumsy these professional werewolf hunters were.

"Do you have anyone without training wheels?" I jeered at Gerard as he watched stoically from behind the man, ducking as the hunter swung the shock stick towards my head. On my way back to an upright position, I punched him in the gut once; then, my pointed ear twitching as I lost concentration of my glamour, I heard the sound of another shock stick from behind me. Quickly, I twisted the man in front of me to cover myself, expression grim as he screamed from all of the electricity now coursing through his body courtesy of the man I had knocked on the head earlier. I promptly dropped the hunter I was holding and swept the other off his feet while he was preoccupied with his partner, a swift kick to the temple knocking him out.

I turned towards Gerard, skin softly glowing and my pointed ears revealed in all of their glory, and tilted my head slightly in confusion at the look on his face. Black eyes glittering, he was examining me with.. Jealousy? Greed? It was hard to tell, to be honest, but it discomforted me. Not letting the unease show on my face, I stood my ground as he smiled a shark-like grin.

"Sidhe." Gerard said, a small smirk on his face. My uneasiness grew as I got the particular feeling that he had wanted me to reveal myself and that it had gone according to plan. "I've been looking for one of your kind, but it is so rare to see one of your people now a days."

"Why have you been seeking the Sidhe, mortal?" I asked, a small sneer on my face. I thought I noticed his lips twist into a snarl as I said mortal, information I filed away for later, and my grip on my cane tightened.

"Oh, I have questions." Gerard said menacingly, backing away from me to leave the alley we were standing in. "Tonight's not the night, however. I'll be seeing you soon, I'm sure, Mr. Hyland."

"Oh piss off." I said, glaring at the man. Silently I thanked him, because now I knew to be on guard for the possibility of an ambush in the near future. Whatever he wanted to ask, I'm sure it would not be done politely and I am also sure that it couldn't be any good. I startled on the inside when I felt my phone ringing, and pulling it out of my pocket, I saw that it was Stiles calling for the second time.

"Is everything alright?" I asked in lieu of a greeting

"No! I have like fifty feet left and not enough of this magic fairy dust. My best friend is not picking up his phone even though this was his and his bosses plan, and we are trying to lock a murderous lizard in a party full of people." Stiles replied snarkily, and I could imagine the look on his face would match.

"Honestly? It sounds like one of yours and Scott's typical nights." I told him, walking around the bodies of the two hunters after I checked to see if they would be out of commision a little while longer; hopefully, until everything was done here. The simple thing to do was to kill them, but I knew Scott would not approve and even though they would kill me as soon as the order was given, my conscience dictated they stay alive.

"Not helping." Stiles groaned through the telephone "What do I do?"

"Finish the line." I told him, branching off into one of the main streets that surrounded the building. From the black powder on the floor, I could tell Stiles had already been through here. Stepping over the unfinished line, I headed for the door. "A wise man once said you can have all the tools in the world, but if you do not genuinely believe in yourself, they are useless. Believe, Stiles."

"That sounds like you got it off of a fortune cookie." Stiles deadpanned, making me huff a laugh so as not to frustrate the teenager anymore than he already was.

"I'm going into the rave to find Jackson." I told him, ignoring his sound of protest and indignation on the other line. "Stiles, call me when you have the line up and then come find me. Good luck."

I hung up the phone just as the door opened. I flashed my ticket at the man watching the entrance to the party, a black shirt emblazoned with the word security in yellow, block letters on the back. The noises and lights were incredibly distracting, and I could smell heady sweat of mortals in the air the moment the door opened; not necessarily a bad smell overall, but some individuals were more ripe than others. I scanned the room, my eyes darting to find either one of Derek's pack or Jackson himself slinking around the crowded room. I went around the edge of the room, trying to stay out of the massive amount of people dancing so that I could spot someone easier, and that was when I ran into Danny.

"Hey! You made it!" Danny said, smiling at me. I returned the smile tersely, still scanning the room over his back. He must have noticed how tense I was because it face went from pleasantly surprised to concerned in the span of a couple of seconds. "Are you okay?"

"I am." I told him, my eyes darting to meet his at the unexpected question. "Have you seen Isaac Lahey around?"

"Yeah, he was with Erica over there not too long ago." Danny said, curiosity shining in his dark brown eyes.

"Thanks." I said gratefully, clapping him on the shoulder. "I have to find him, it's urgent."

"What's going on?" Danny asked

"I-" I froze, which was quite unlike me. I couldn't tell him without risking him being sucked into all of this, especially considering Jackson was his best friend; but I did not want to lie either, Danny was a great person from what I had gathered so far. Very kind, generous, and he had dealt with my weirdness before. "I can't tell you."

"Okay." Danny said, looking slightly crestfallen but as though he had not expected anything else. "Can I ask why?"

"It's complicated Danny, and I honestly don't have a good explanation except that it is something dangerous to know." I told him seriously "Something you don't want to know."

"Alright." Danny said, proving how much of a good person he was. Most people would press for information, but Danny easily accepted my admittedly lame excuse and let it rest. Something I was exceedingly grateful for. Danny turned to head back onto the dance floor, where some guy in a tight black shirt was waiting for him and glaring daggers at me, when I opened my mouth.

"Danny."

He turned, eyebrow raised expectantly, and I thought about what I was going to say. When I froze again for a moment, he walked another step towards me and asked "What is it?"

"You should leave pretty soon, Danny." I told him, an obviously forced grin on my face mixed with a pleading look which made his expression cloud with confusion. "Maybe take your date out to eat? This place is getting kind of.. Wild."

"Okay." Danny said slowly, nodding his head slightly as if he understood. "Maybe I'll do that."

I nodded to him before turning and going towards the DJ booth where Danny had said he saw Isaac and Erica headed towards. I hoped Danny would take my advice and leave, I would hate for him to get caught up in any of this more than he already had. I gracefully made my way through the throng of people, and was just in time to see Isaac inject Jackson with the ketamine. I walked towards the two wolves and Jackson, slipping one of Jackson's arms around my neck and helping Isaac carry him into what looked like an old storage room. Erica got a chair and we sat him down on it, the only furniture in the small room with four metal walls. I quickly sent Stiles a text message about where we were, and then took my jacket off as I leaned down to examine Jackson better. He seemed as though he were knocked out, but I was not willing to test the idea out quite yet. Moments later, Stiles burst into the storage room with a look of pride on his face and I knew instantly that he had finished the line. I gave him a grin, putting my tongue to my teeth to hold back the 'I told you so' that was so eager to come forth, and nodded towards the apparently unconscious Jackson.

"He okay?" Stiles voiced, gesturing towards Jackson.

"I don't know." Isaac said, before a wicked smirk came across his face and he extended his hand, claws out. "Let's find out."

Isaac went to hit Jackson on the side of the face, but Jackson easily caught the swing and clenched down hard, causing Isaac's eyes to go wides in shock. "God-"

"Okay, no one does anything like that again, okay?" Stiles said, all of us backing away from Jackson in trepidation as soon as Isaac got his hand out of the Kanima's grip.

"I thought the ketamine was supposed to put him out." Isaac voiced, shaking out his hand.

"Yeah, well, apparently this is all we are going to get." Stiles quipped back, shaking his head. "Let's just hope whoever is controlling him decided to show up tonight."

"I'm here." Jackson said in an unnatural voice, as though there were more than one of him and in a deeper tone than he would normally speak in. "I'm right here with you."

"Well, that is peculiar." I commented, ignoring the 'well duh' looks sent to me by the other occupants in the room who were not a homicidal lizard-man.

"Jackson?" Stiles said tentatively, approaching the man like one would a wild animal, hands out in a placating gesture and trying to keep his voice calm. "Is that you?"

"Us." Jackson said, half-shifted with scales all along his face. "We're all here."

"Are you the one killing people?" I asked, eyebrows raising slightly at him talking as though he were more than one person.

"We are the ones killing murderers." Jackson spit out, venom in his voice on the last word.

"So, all the people you've killed so far-" Stiles began, trailing off slightly.

"Deserved it."

"See, we got a little rule book that says you only go after murderers." Stiles said, a little of his sarcasm seeping into his voice. I shook my head slightly, marveling that a human could have so much bravado faced with the supernatural as Stiles was.

"Anything can break if enough pressure is applied." Jackson said ominously

"All right. So the people you are killing, are all murderers then?" Stiles asked him

"All." Jackson said forcefully "Each. Every one."

"Alright, who did they murder?" Stiles asked

"Me." Jackson replied promptly

"Wait, what?" Stiles asked, the bewildered expression he was wearing matching his tone perfectly.

"They murdered me." Jackson said, spitting the words out and beginning to stand up. "They murdered me!"

"Okay, all right. More ketamine." Stiles said nervously, gesturing to Isaac hurriedly. "The man needs more on."

"We don't have any more." Isaac said anxiously, and I threw him an incredulous look before I could stop myself. Seriously?

"You used the whole bottle?" Stiles basically shouted, echoing my thoughts, and Isaac retracted into himself nervously, nodding his head. Stiles took a breath, and started backing away from Jackson who had gotten out of his seat completely now, scales covering almost all of his body. "Um - okay, out. Everyone out."

I was the last one to leave the room, Stiles slamming the door behind me before turning to me. "Hold the door while we find something to brace in front of it."

I nodded, pressing my back to the door and bracing my legs in front of me. If it was the last damn thing I was going to do, there was no way anything was going to make it out of this -

I was jarred from the side as Jackson tore through the metal wall next to the door, leaving me gaping at the hole he had left. How powerful was this creature? Stiles, Erica, Isaac and I shared startled expressions before deciding it was better to split up and look for Jackson. A lot of people were leaving the building as we walked out together, Erica and Isaac taking another way. It was when we were heading outside that we saw Derek, and Stiles rushed up to him and started speaking.

"Hey, so we kind of lost Jackson inside, but it's-" Stiles trailed off, noticing Derek staring at me as I tried to cross the line of mountain ash. It was like hitting an invisible barrier, or trying to put two magnets together that were polar opposites. My hand slid right off, and Stiles had an ecstatic expression on his face when he saw it, making me grin a little. "Oh my god, it's working. Oh this is- I did something!"

It was at that moment that a loud, mournful howl sounded out across the warehouse district, making me tilt my head in puzzlement at Derek, who had a shocked look on his face. "Scott?"

"What?" Stiles asked him, baffled because he could not hear the sound with his human ears.

"Break it." Derek commanded, gesturing towards the line.

"What?" Stiles said again, before firmly shaking his head. "No way!"

"Scott's dying!" Derek said, a strange desperation in his voice that had me instantly believing him.

"Okay, what? How do you know that?" Stiles asked

"He's telling the truth." I said, gesturing to the line preventing me from crossing and Derek from going after Scott.

"Oh my god, Stiles!" Derek growled out "I just know! Break it!"

"Ah-" Stiles said regretfully, before fanning the ash and breaking the circle. Derek sprinted through and, presumably, went towards where Scott was being kept. That was when I heard a scream and in an unspoken agreement, I went towards the scream to check out what was going on inside, trusting Derek to find Scott. I told Stiles I would be right back, jetting off faster than a human could hope to go, only to find a girl with bright pink hair, a hand over her mouth, and looking at a dead body of a dark-skinned woman who had been murdered. I cursed to myself, knowing it was the Kanima and that we had lost this round again, before telling her to call the police and leaving. I knew we had to get out of here - it would not do for Stiles or Scott to be seen at yet another crime scene. I found Stiles almost in the exact place I had left him, waiting for me, and told him about the deceased girl I had found.

"We didn't stop it." Stiles sighed, disappointment and guilt heavy in his words.

"Stiles, we will figure this out - we know it can be contained and even though tonight didn't go as well as we had hoped, we learned important information." I told him, gripping his bicep comfortingly. "We did our best and that is all anyone can do."

"Yeah. Scott's okay." Stiles told me morosely, still upset about the girl who had been murdered and our ineffectual plan. "Derek is taking him to Deaton know, so I guess we should get out of here before the cops show up."

"Yeah." I agreed, both of us walking towards his jeep, shoulders slumped. I knew it was sick to view this as a game, but it had worked in the past to distance myself emotionally - to think of it as a game of shogi, or chess. It was another victory for the Kanima master tonight, and it did not sit easy with me that we had not done as well as I had hoped, even after teaming up with Derek and his pack. As Stiles started the engine and made his way back to my house to drop me off, I got the strangest sensation that everything was coming to a head - that tonight set something in motion that we were going to have to stop. I just hoped the next body I found wasn't one I recognized.


End file.
